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PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate   of 
Rockvrell  S.   Brank 

BS  2415  .S64  1902b 

Speer,  Robert  E.  1867-1947. 

The  principles  of  Jesus 

L 


'^'*'C^ 


THE  PRINCIPLES 
OF    JESUS 

APPLIED    TO    SOME 
QUESTIONS    OF    TO-DAY 


\1 


o 


PHILADELPHIA  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 

THE    WESTMINSTER   PRESS 
NASHVILLE        ST.  LOUIS        BERKELEY,  CAL. 


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Copyright,     1902.    by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 


INTEODUCTION 9 

I 

Jesus  and  the  Father 15 

II 
Jesus  and  Prayer 17 

III 
Jesus  and  the  Will  of  God 21 

IV 
Jesus  and  Human  Society 25 

V 
Jesus  and  Sin ...    29 

VI 
Jesus  and  Standards 33 

VII 
Jesus  and  Temptations 37 

VIII 
Jesus  and  Politics 40 

IX 
Jesus  and  the  Church 45 

X 

Jesus  and  His  Enemies 49 

XI 

Jesus  and  Forgiveness 57 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

XII 
Jesus  and  Error 63 

XIII 
Jesus  and  Unbelief 68 

XIV 
Jesus  and  Friendship 72 

XV 
Jesus  and  Marriage 76 

XVI 
Jesus  and  the  Family 80 

XVII 
Jesus  and  Woman 84 

XVIII 
Jesus  and  Children 88 

XIX 
Jesus  and  Private  Property 92 

XX 

Jesus  and  Riches 96 

XXI 
Jesus  and  Poverty 100 

XXII 

Jesus  and  Giving  to  Man 105 

XXIII 
Jesus  and  Giving  to  God 109 

XXIV 
Jesus  AND  THE  Organization  OF  Society    .   .   .   .114 

XXV 
Jesus  and  War 1 19 


CONTENTS  1 

XXVI 
Jesus  and  Nonresistance 123 

XXVII 
Jesus  and  Rights 128 

XXVIII 
Jesus  and  Law 132 

XXIX 
Jesus  and  Character 137 

XXX 
Jesus  and  Duty 141 

XXXI 
Jesus  and  Love 14^ 

XXXII 

Jesus  and  Work 149 

XXXIII 
Jesus  and  the  Teaching  of  Truth 153 

XXXIV 
Jesus  and  Human  Speech 157 

XXXV 
Jesus  and  Disease .  161 

XXXVI 
Jesus  and  Death 165 

XXXVII 
Jesus  and  Heaven 169 

XXXVIII 
Jesus  and  Hell 173 

XXXIX 

Jesus  and  Veracity 177 

XL 
Jesus  and  Falsehood 181 


8  CONTENTS 

XLI 
Jesus  and  Judgment i86 

XLII 
Jesus  and  Faith 190 

XLIII 
Jesus  and  Trust 195 

XLIV 
Jesus  and  Sacrifice 199 

XLV 
Jesus  and  the  Holy  Spirit 204 

XLVI 
Jesus  and  the  Bible 209 

XLVII 
Jesus  and  the  Pleasures  of  Life 214 

XLVIII 
Jesus  and  the  Purpose  of  Life 218 

XLIX 
Jesus  and  the  City 222 

L 
Jesus  and  the  Nations 228 

LI 

Jesus  and  Moral  and  Social  Ideals 234 

LII 
Jesus  and  Moral  Sanctions 242 

LIII 
Jesus  and  the  Gospel 249 

LIV 

Jesus  and  the  Supernatural 255 

Questions  for  the  Study  of  Bible  Classes  .    .    ..  26^ 


The  Principles  of  Jesus 


Introduction 


Men  are  no  longer  content  with  the  conven- 
tional judgments  about  conduct  that  satisfied 
them  a  few  years  ago.  It  is  a  striking  sight  to 
see  them  turning  instinctively  to  Jesus  for  light  on 
their  difficulties  or  to  claim  His  authority  in  sup- 
port of  their  solutions  of  the  problems  of  life. 
"There  is  something  touching,"  says  Harnack, 
"in  the  anxiety  which  every  one  shows  to  redis- 
cover himself  with  his  own  point  of  view  and  his 
own  circle  of  interest,  in  this  Jesus  Christ,  or  at 
least  to  get  a  share  in  Him.  It  is  the  perennial 
repetition  of  the  spectacle  which  was  seen  in  the 
'  Gnostic '  movement  even  as  early  as  the  second 
century,  and  which  takes  the  form  of  a  struggle 
on  the  part  of  every  conceivable  tendency  of 
thought  for  the  possession  of  Jesus  Christ." 
There  is  a  striking  testimony  here  to  the  abiding 
authority  of  Jesus.  "He  would  approve  of  our 
course,"  those  say  who  are  sure.  "  What  would 
9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

He  do  if  He  were  here  ?  ' '  others  ask  who  are  in 
doubt. 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  revelation  of  right  in  life. 
Whatever  He  approves  is  right.  Whatever  He 
condemns  is  wrong.  But  what  would  He  approve 
if  He  were  here  to-day,  and  what  would  He  con- 
demn? It  is  possible  to  err  in  either  of  two 
ways  in  answering  this  question,  (i)  Some  at- 
tempt to  apply  with  rigid  literalness  the  exact  say- 
ings of  Christ  to  present  conditions.  "  Sell  all 
that  you  have,"  ''Lay  not  up  treasure  on  the 
earth,"  ''Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee," 
"Lend," — these  sayings  and  others  are  treated 
as  legal  prescriptions,  to  be  mechanically  obeyed. 
But  this  view  is  impossible  and  un-Christlike. 
It  is  impossible.  None  of  its  advocates  sells 
all  that  he  has.  Tolstoy  does  not.  It  is  un- 
Christlike.  Jesus  did  not  come  to  establish  a 
new  legislation  in  place  of  the  Mosaic  code. 
He  came  to  displace  legalism  by  the  spirit  of  a 
true  life,  to  supplant  prescription  by  principle. 
He  refused  to  tell  all  things  to  His  disciples  as  a 
pure  legalist  would  have  done,  or  to  issue  minute 
instructions  concerning  their  conduct.  "The 
Spirit  will  come,"  He  said.  "He  will  guide 
you."  (2)  On  the  other  side  men  err  in  so  re- 
fining away  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  ethical  sub- 
limates that  nothing  solid  and  stable  is  left.  Jesus 
established  no  organization,  they  say.  He  laid  no 
hard  constraints  upon  men.     He  broke  up  the 


INTRODUCTION  1 1 

enslavements  of  the  past  whether  of  opinion  or  of 
ritual.  He  lives  now  not  as  the  teacher  of  a 
doctrine  or  the  founder  of  an  institution,  but  as 
an  influence,  an  inspiration,  an  evidence  of  what 
we  may  be  if  we  will  be  brave  enough  to  be  free. 
But  Jesus  was  not  just  this.  He  came  to  give 
men  power  to  Uve  a  new  and  eternal  life,  it  is 
true.  But  the  new  life  was  to  be  the  eternal  life 
lived  in  time  before  entering  upon  eternity.  And 
He  revealed  in  Himself  the  objective  standards 
and  principles  of  the  eternal  life  thus  abiding  in 
time. 

Following  in  Jesus'  steps  accordingly  is  not 
wearing  the  sort  of  clothes  which  He  wore. 
Neither  is  it  merely  the  possession  of  a  sweet  feel- 
ing towards  all  men  irrespective  of  the  moral  life. 
It  is  the  application  to  conduct  to-day  under  its 
changed  conditions  of  the  principles  which  found 
expression  in  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  nine- 
teen hundred  years  ago,  but  which,  because  they 
are  principles,  are  not  local,  transient  and  per- 
sonal, but  universal  and  abiding. 

The  purpose  of  these  studies  will  be  to  seek  in 
the  life  of  Christ  for  some  of  those  principles 
which  should  guide  our  lives.  These  principles 
found  one  application  in  His  life.  He  lived  in 
His  own  age  and  country,  and  He  fitted  Himself 
to  His  time  and  the  people  among  whom  He 
moved.  We  live  in  another  age,  and  the  meth- 
ods and  problems  of  our  life  are  difl"erentj  but 


12  INTRODUCTION 

the  same  principles  which  guided  Him  are  to 
guide  us.  He  washed  His  disciples*  feet,  for  ex- 
ample, and  told  them,  *'Ye  also  ought  to  wash 
one  another's  feet."  Now  that  teaches  us,  not 
that  we  should  preserve  the  ancient  custom  of 
foot-washing,  but  that  the  principle  of  humility 
and  service  should  rule  us  now  as  it  ruled  Him 
then. 

The  true  way  to  answer  the  question,  What 
would  Jesus  do  now  in  my  place  ?  is  to  study  the 
principles  of  Jesus'  life  and  teaching.  Only  so  shall 
we  be  able  intelligently  to  strive  to  do  whatever 
He  would  like  to  have  us  do.  And  we  could  not 
undertake  any  Bible-study  more  fundamental  and 
necessary  than  this.  Nor  could  any  be  sweeter 
or  more  helpful.  For  all  Bible-study  is  valuable 
just  in  proportion  as  it  shows  us  the  face  of  Jesus. 
That  study  is  most  directly  helpful  which  leads 
us  to  look  straight  at  Him  whom  Luther  called 
*'the  Proper  Man,"  who  was  the  revelation  of 
the  Father's  will  for  every  man.  What  Jesus 
was,  the  Father  would  have  each  of  us  be.  What 
Jesus  did,  the  Father  would  have  each  of  us  do. 

These  studies  are  presented  in  this  form  for  the 
use  of  individual  Christians  in  their  own  study  of  the 
Gospels  and  their  own  guidance  of  their  lives,  and 
also  for  groups  or  classes  which  desire  to  examine 
the  applications  of  Christ's  teaching  and  example 
to  the  conditions  of  our  present  life.  It  would  be 
helpful   if  ministers  and  other  teachers  in  theu' 


INTRODUCTION  1 3 

midweek  prayer  meetings,  or  on  Sunday  evenings 
would  take  up  such  a  course  of  study  as  is  sug- 
gested here  and  strive  to  lead  their  people  to 
bridge  the  chasm  that  has  too  often  separated  our 
lives  from  our  ideals,  our  deeds  from  our  dreams. 
At  any  rate  we  need  to  be  recalled,  as  these 
studies  attempt  to  recall  us,  again  and  again,  from 
the  shifting  opinions  of  men  to  the  solid  judgments 
of  Jesus,  from  their  uncertainty  to  His  authority. 
To  whom  else  shall  we  go  ?  He  has  the  words 
of  eternal  life. 


JESUS   AND   THE   FATHER 

The  place  to  begin  such  a  course  of  studies  is 
in  Jesus'  relations  to  the  Father.  In  these  were 
the  primary  and  ruling  principles  of  His  life. 

1.  The  heart  of  Jesus  conceived  God  in  His 
Fatherly  relationship  rather  than  in  His  creative 
power  or  His  omnipotent  dignity.  In  speaking 
to  Him  Jesus  constantly  addressed  Him  as  Father 
(Matt.  II  :  25 ;  John  11  :  41 ;  17:5;  Matt.  26: 
39,  42;  Luke  23:  34,  46).  There  is  no  record 
of  His  ever  having  addressed  God  by  such  titles 
as  "O  Almighty  God,"  or  "Infinite  and  Eter- 
nal One."  His  speech  drew  God  very  near. 
Christian  life  takes  a  great  deal  of  its  tone  from 
its  fashion  of  conceiving  God.  Is  He  to  us  pri- 
marily the  great  and  holy  One  who  inhabiteth 
eternity,  or  is  He  the  dear  Father  God,  whom 
our  hearts  call  Abba,  the  child's  first  phrasing  of 
its  father's  name  ?    He  was  this  to  Jesus. 

2.  Jesus'  familiar  address  to  God  could  never 
incline  by  a  hair's  breadth  to  irreverence.  In  His 
most  solemn  prayer  He  called  God  <<  O  righteous 
Father,"  <*  O  holy  Father  "  (John  17  :  11,  25). 

3.  Jesus  openly  avowed  the  complete  subordi- 
nation of  His  life  and  will  to  the  Father  (John 

'5 


l6  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

6  :  38  ;  8  :  29).  And  this  was  not  only  a  fervent 
longing  of  His  consecrated  heart.  It  was  an 
actual  accomplishment.  In  His  life  He  declared 
men  saw  the  Father  (John  14:  9);  in  His  doc- 
trine the  Father  was  speaking  (John  14:  10) ;  in 
His  working,  God  was  at  work  and  responsible 
for  all  (John  5:19;  Luke  8  :  39). 

4.  Jesus'  identification  with  the  Father  was 
stated  by  our  Lord  in  terms  so  comprehensive  as 
to  cover  all  of  His  life.  Look  up  each  of  the  fol- 
lowing passages,  and  frame  from  them  a  state- 
ment of  the  scope  of  this  identification  (John 
8  :  42  ;  5  :  23  ;  8  :  28  ;  12  :  49  ;  Matt.  11  :  27  ; 
John  14 :  7 ;  10 :  30).  And  see  how  many  times 
in  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  chapters 
of  John  alone  Jesus  refers  to  Himself  as  one 
"  sent,"  a  man  on  a  mission.  That  was  what  He 
was.     Are  we  to  be  otherwise?   (John  20  :  21.) 

5.  The  two  great  principles  underlying  all 
this  were  the  principles  of  fellowship  and  obedi- 
ence. Indeed,  perfect  fellowship  means  that  self- 
surrender  which  is  obedience.  To  know  God  as 
Father  is  to  know  and  to  do  His  will  and  be 
close  to  Him.  The  Jews  complained  of  Jesus 
on  this  account,  because  He  "called  God  His 
own  Father,  making  Himself  equal  with  God  " 
(John  5:  17,  18). 

What  Jesus  was  to  the  Father,  the  Father  would 
have  me  be.  What  the  Father  was  to  Jesus,  the 
Father  would  in  all  possible  measure  be  to  me. 


II 

JESUS  AND  PRAYER 

How  did  Jesus  maintain  the  sense  of  the 
Father's  nearness  and  feed  the  life  of  love  and 
devotion  ?     By  prayer. 

I.  He  often  dealt  with  the  subject  of  prayer 
in  His  teaching,  (i)  He  set  forth  the  conditions 
of  true  and  efficient  prayer  in  detail  and  explicit- 
ness.  Purity  of  heart  was  essential,  He  said,  for 
that  vision  of  God  without  which  prayer  would 
be  flat  and  impotent  (Matt.  5:8).  John  Bunyan 
felt  this  deeply,  and  it  was  his  sense  of  it  which 
shaped  all  that  he  wrote.  "  Forasmuch,"  he  says 
in  Grace  Abounding  **  as  the  passage  was  won- 
derful narrow,  even  so  narrow  that  I  could  not 
but  with  great  difficulty  enter  in  thereat,  it  showed 
me  that  none  could  enter  into  life  but  those  that 
were  in  downright  earnest,  and  unless  also  they 
left  this  wicked  world  behind  them;  for  there 
was  only  room  for  body  and  soul,  but  not  for 
body  and  soul  and  sin."  Jesus  taught  that  prayer 
was  not  a  place  where  willful  impurity  could 
obtrude.  Restitution  and  reparation  for  wrong- 
doing (MattT^  :  23,  24)  ;  forgiveness  of  heart 
(Matt.  6:  12-15);  ^^i^h  (Matt.  17:  20);  unity 


1 8  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

of  desire  with  others  (Matt.  i8  :  19,  20) ;  honest 
longing  (Luke  1 1  :  5-8)  ;  sincere  humihty  (Luke 
18  :  9-14), — these  were  conditions  of  such  true 
prayer  as  He  knew  the  Father  was  waiting  to 
answer. 

(2)  He  suggested  some  of  the  things  for  which 
men  should  pray, — our  enemies  (Matt.  5  :  43-48) ; 
laborers  for  the  harvest  (Matt.  9:37,  38) ;  against 
temptation  (Matt.  26  :  41)  ;  but  He  left  room  for 
us  to  ask  for  whatsoever  we  may  rightly  desire 
and  can  ask  for  in  faith  (Matt.  21  :  22),  and  in 
His  name  (John  14:  13,  14). 

(3)  As  to  the  manner  and  spirit  of  prayer  He 
encouraged  simplicity  (Matt.  6  :  7,  8) ;  secrecy 
(Matt.  7:  5,  6);  constancy  (Luke  18:  i) ;  vigi- 
lance (Matt.  26  :  41). 

(4)  And  He  held  out  great  encouragements 
(Matt.  7  :  7,  8) ;  the  assurance  that  God's  love 
exceeds  an  earthly  father's  (Matt.  7  :  9,  11)  ;  that 
Jesus  Himself  will  join  in  our  prayers  (Matt.  18  : 
19,  20  ;  John  16  :  23,  24)  ;  that  our  Father  knows 
our  wants  already  and  loves  us  (Matt.  6:8). 

2.  And  what  Jesus  taught  about  prayer  He 
exemplified  in  His  life. 

(i)  It  was  a  life  marked  by  prayer  as  one  of 
its  most  real  and  natural  experiences.  There  was 
nothing  forced  or  artificial  about  Jesus*  prayer 
life.  The  Father  was  very  near  to  Him,  and  He 
just  talked  to  Him.  He  thanked  the  Father 
quite  openly  for  His  present  help  and  goodness 


JESUS   AND    PRAYER  IQ 

in  common  things  (Matt.  15  :  36 ;  Luke  9 :  16) ; 
and  the  deep  gratitude  of  His  soul  in  great  and 
strange  things  was  expressed  in  the  same  open, 
unhesitating  way  (Matt.  11 :  25,  26  ;  John  12  :  27). 
Jesus  was  never  ashamed  of  God,  nor  hesitated 
to  confess  Him  openly. 

(2)  The  loneHness  of  Jesus  showed  itself  in 
the  loneliness  of  His  prayer.  But  His  love  of 
the  Father  showed  itself  in  His  eagerness  to  be 
alone  with  Him.  He  began  His  days  with  God, 
and  so  He  continued  and  ended  them. 

"  When  first  thy  eyes  unveil,  give  thy  soul  leave 
To  do  the  like  ;  our  bodies  but  forerun 
The  spirit's  duty.     True  hearts  spread  and  heave 

Unto  their  God  as  flowers  do  to  the  sun. 
Give  Him  thy  first  thoughts,  then  ;  so  shalt  thou  keep 
Him  company  all  day  and  in  Him  sleep." 

Study  for  our  understanding  of  Jesus'  time  habits 
in  prayer  (Mark  1:35;  6  :  45-47  ;  Luke  6  :  12); 
and  of  His  place  habits  (John  18:2;  Luke 
5  :  16;  6:  12). 

(3)  If  He  bade  men  to  pray  always  and  not 
to  faint,  that  was  what  He  did  Himself.  He 
prepared  for  the  great  events  of  His  life  by 
prayer  (Matt.  14:23-33;  Luke  6:12,  13;  9: 
18-20).  He  knew,  as  Mazzini  has  said,  that 
*'the  morrow  of  victory  is  more  perilous  than  its 
eve";  and  He  followed  the  great  events  of  His 
life  by  prayer  (Matt.   14  :  23  ;  Mark  i  :  32,  35 ; 


20  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

Luke  3 :  22).  He  was  praying  each  time  He 
heard  from  home  (Luke  3:22;  Matt.  17:5; 
John  12  :  28 ;  Luke  22  :  43). 

(4)  Prayer  was  His  very  breath,  unselfish 
prayer  (Luke  22  :  32) ;  forgiving  prayer  (Luke 
23 :  34)  ;  earnest  prayer  (Luke  22  ;  44)  ;  submiss- 
ive prayer  (Matt.  11 :  26 ;   26  :  39-54). 

If  there  ever  was  a  man  who  did  not  need  to 
pray,  it  was  Jesus.  What  did  He  lack  for  which 
He  needed  to  ask  ?  Was  not  the  Father  always 
with  Him  ?  If  He  needed  to  pray,  much  more 
do  we.  The  characteristics  of  His  prayer  life  as 
we  have  found  them  must  be  the  characteristics 
of  ours. 


m 

JESUS   AND   THE   WH  L   OF   GOD 

The  ruling  principle  in  tlrj  life  of  Jesus,  both 
in  its  prayer  and  in  its  servi  ':e,  was  the  will  of 
God.  He  conditioned  His  prayers  upon  the 
Father's  will  (Luke  22 :  42),  and  He  declared 
that  He  never  did  anything  bat  the  will  of  His 
Father  (John  5  :  30).  He  found  the  truest  re- 
lationships in  life,  not  in  the  mei'  s  ties  of  flesh  and 
blood,  but  in  common  devotion  to  God's  will 
(Mark  3  :  35).  In  doing  that  wUI  was  His  meat 
and  drink,  so  that  He  could  efen  forego  other 
nourishment  while  some  noble  ni 'jiistry  sustained 
Him  (John  4  :  34). 

He  taught  His  disciples  to  love  (t.  They  were 
to  pray  not  so  much  for  a  milUon  details,  as 
simply  that  the  will  of  God  might  be  done  on 
earth  as  in  heaven  (Matt.  6 :  10).  Those  were 
to  enter  into  His  kingdom  who  dii  the  will  of 
His  Father  (Matt.  7:21).  He  pointed  out  that 
this  will  was  a  will  of  most  eager  love  (Matt. 
i8  :  14),  and  not  hard  and  exclus  ve  (i  Tim. 
2  :  4).  At  the  same  time  He  tauglt  that  there 
would  be  no  maudlin  confusion  of  nt  .tal  distinc- 
tions, J'nd  that  God  could  not  deaJ  '^ith  those 
2? 


12  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

who  rebelled  against  His  will  as  He  would  with 
those  who  loved  it  (Luke  12  :  47). 

How  good  the  will  of  God  is  as  Jesus  taught  it 
appears  in  His  hopeful  assurance  of  the  will  of 
God  to  care  for  His  own.  In  the  divine  will  lay 
a  guaranty  of  absolute  safety  for  those  who  were 
truly  Christ's  own  (John  6  ;  39). 

« Hidden  in  the  hollow  of  His  blessM  hand, 
Not  a  foe  can  follow,  not  a  traitor  stand." 

But  who  may  be  Christ's  own  ?  Is  that  a  place 
open  to  any  one?  *^This  is  the  will  of  My 
Father,"  said  Jesus,  "that  every  one  that  be- 
holdeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  Him,  should 
have  eternal  life"  (John  6:  40).  The  will  of 
God  opens  its  rest  and  safety  to  every  man  who 
has  eyes  for  Christ.  But  is  not  the  ability  to  see 
Christ  with  the  beholding  eye,  the  eye  that  sees 
through  Him  to  the  Father's  heart,  a  power  de- 
nied to  some?  Jesus  answers  this  doubt.  He 
declares  that  the  matter  turns  on  the  individual 
will.  Whoever  wills  to  do  God's  will,  he  shall  be 
able  to  understand  Jesus'  teaching,  to  "behold" 
Him  as  the  open  way  to  the  Father,  and  the 
peace    and    strength   of    His   noble   will   (John 

T'  17)- 

This  was  the  preaching  and  practice  of  Jesus 
about  the  will  of  God. 

I.  It  delivered  Him  from  all  fear.  Nothing 
can  intimidate  God's  will  or  the  man  who  is  set 


JESUS    AND   THE    WILL   OF   GOD  23 

in  it.     "Fear  not,"  said  Jesus  (Luke  12  :  7,  32). 

2.  It  brought  Him  perfect  steadiness  of  life 
and  composure  of  heart.  There  is  no  fitfulness 
or  vacillation  in  God's  will.  Jesus,  doing  it, 
never  changed  His  plans,  or  modified  His  doc- 
trine, or  altered  His  project.  He  was  and  did  at 
the  end  what  He  had  been  and  done  from  the  be- 
ginning (John  8  :  25).  And  nothing  could  move 
the  calm  of  His  reposeful  rest  in  the  will  of  God. 
In  the  very  torments  of  His  trial  He  was  the 
majestic  and  steadfast  figure,  and  Roman  gov- 
ernors seemed  fretful  and  tawdry  beside  Him 
(John  18  :  33-38  ;  19  :  9-12).  The  will  of  God 
lifted  Jesus  above  "our  feverish  ways." 

3.  It  gave  Him  the  power  of  God.  God 
does  His  will  through  the  man  who  does  God's 
will  (Matt.  9  :  6,  8  ;  Luke  4:32;  John  lo :  i8 ; 
17:  2;  Matt.  28:  18). 

As  Jesus  did  the  will  of  God,  we  are  to  do  it. 

1.  And  it  is  to  be  with  us,  not  only  submis- 
sion to  power  above  our  own,  but  also  partner- 
ship in  power  greater  than  our  own.  Doing  the 
will  of  God  is  not  synonymous  merely  with  resig- 
nation. It  is  the  note  of  the  life  of  aggressive 
and  resistless  achievement  (Rom.  12:  2;  Eph. 
6:  6;  Col.  4:  12;   i  Pet.  2 :  15 ;  Heb.  13 :  21). 

2.  It  will  be  with  us  a  deliverance  from  sin. 
The  will  of  God  is  against  all  sin  and  unclean- 
ness  (i  Thess.  4:3;  Heb.  10:  10). 

3.  It  will  glorify  life  into  personal  partnership 


24  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

with  the  living  God.  Right  becomes  His  living 
will,  not  an  impersonal  thing  (Col.  1:9;  Phil. 
2:13). 

4.  It  will  open  to  us  the  secret  of  accomplish- 
ing prayer  (i  John  5  :  14). 

5.  And  make  us  sharers  in  the  abiding  eter- 
nity of  God  (i  John  2  :  17). 


IV 

JESUS   AND   HUMAN    SOCIETY 

The  holy  men  of  the  Middle  Ages  deemed  the 
deepest  knowledge  of  God  incompatible  with  a 
free  life  among  men.  They  withdrew,  accord- 
ingly, from  the  movements  of  the  world,  and  in 
cloister,  cell,  and  cave  sought  the  holy  life.  ' '  The 
greatest  saints,"  says  good  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
**  avoided  the  society  of  men  when  they  could 
conveniently,  and  did  rather  choose  to  live  to 
God  in  secret";  and  he  quotes  the  saying  of 
Seneca,  "As  often  as  I  have  been  among  men,  I 
returned  home  less  a  man  than  I  was  before." 

Each  of  us  knows  the  significance  of  this 
shrinking  from  human  life.  Sometimes  it  comes 
from  our  perverted  conception  of  holiness  as  a 
contemplation  of  God  sought  for  itself,  and  not 
as  a  preparation  for  the  service  of  man.  Some- 
times it  comes  from  selfishness  and  the  indolent 
preference  for  work  in  worship  rather  than  worship 
in  work.  Sometimes  it  comes  from  the  uncom- 
fortable inability  to  carry  our  pure  ideals  and 
spiritual  thoughts  into  the  world  of  men  without 
a  half-pharisaical  sense  of  separation  from  them, 
or  from  a  sheer  incapacity  to  move  easily  in  the 
atmosphere  of  human  society. 
25 


26  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

How  did  Jesus  act?  He  said  that  He  was 
never  separated  from  the  sense  of  the  Father's 
presence,  and  we  know  that  He  could  not  forget 
the  highest  and  best.  Was  He  able  to  move 
about  easily  among  men,  or  did  He  care  to  do  so  ? 

1.  He  assuredly  mingled  in  the  ways  of  men. 
He  went  to  a  wedding  with  His  disciples  (John 
2:  i-ii).  He  attended  feasts.  Where?  He 
provided  feasts.  When  ?  He  knew  the  human 
ways  of  men,  the  homely  habits  of  the  household 
(Matt.  13:  33;  Luke  15  :  8-10;  14:  34,  35). 
He  understood  human  character,  and  He  loved 
to  watch  it  and  to  help  it  (Luke  9:47;  11:17; 
Mark  2:8;  John  2  :  24,  25).  His  parables 
show  how  complete  was  His  touch  with  life 
(Luke  14:  15-24;  15:  11-32;  16:  1-8;  18: 
1-5).  He  was  no  recluse  lost  in  mystical  rap- 
tures. The  incarnation  meant  to  Christ  His 
entrance,  not  only  into  our  flesh,  but  also  into 
our  life,  into  our  social  relationships,  into  all  our 
human  struggle  and  discipline.  The  Christian, 
accordingly,  will  live  where  Christ  lived,  and 
where  He  told  the  Father  He  intended  to  leave 
His  disciples,  in  the  world  (John  17  :  11,  15). 

2.  But,  while  Jesus  lived  among  men  and 
moved  in  their  society.  He  was  not  afraid  of  their 
judgment.  He  did  not  surrender  Himself  to  all 
their  traditions  and  social  conventions.  In  so  far 
as  they  were  harmless  and  innocent,  He  found  no 
fault  with  them ;  but,  when  they  were  false  or  in- 


JESUS    AND    HUMAN    SOCIETY  27 

sincere  or  hateful,  He  openly  affronted  them  in 
the  line  of  His  duty.  He  singled  out  a  publican, 
invited  him  to  be  one  of  His  companions,  and 
went  to  his  house  to  feast  with  a  large  number  of 
other  publicans.  The  great  people  remonstrated 
angrily  (Luke  5  :  29,  30).  He  refused  to  hold 
Himself  aloof  from  helpful  contact  with  the  poor 
and  outcasts,  and  He  was  criticised  for  that  (Luke 
15 :  I,  2).  For  His  sociability  the  Pharisees 
called  Him  a  glutton  and  a  winebibber  (Luke 
7  :  34)  j  and  for  His  democracy,  the  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners  (Matt.  11  :  19).  Jesus  did 
not  lower  His  standards  to  human  society. 

3.  Though  He  stooped  to  the  neediest.  He 
bore  Himself  so  as  to  comrnand  the  respect  of 
the  highest ;  and  once  He  rebuked  in  the  most 
humiliating,  though  the  most  kindly,  way  a  man 
who  invited  Him  to  be  his  guest,  but  showed  his 
own  unworthiness  in  his  discourteous  treatment 
of  Jesus  (Luke  7  :  36-50).  Jesus  bore  Himself 
even  among  men  whose  standards  He  utterly  dis- 
approved with  a  strange  dignity  that  forbade 
disrespect. 

4.  Nor  did  His  association  with  men  ever 
compromise  Him  either  with  Himself  or  with 
others.  No  breath  of  slander  ever  touched  His 
character.  What  was  the  worst  that  His  enemies 
could  say  against  Him  ?  (Luke  23  ;  2  ;  Mark 
14 :  56-59.)  And  He  never  forgot  Himself 
among  the  ways  of  men. 


28  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

5.  Society  was  to  Jesus  a  place  for  finding 
others,  not  for  losing  Himself.  He  was  never 
submerged  in  it.  His  personality  was  never 
stultified  by  it.  He  did  not  seek  it  for  excite- 
ment or  for  the  concealment  of  Himself  from  His 
duty  or  His  conscience.  It  was  simply  a  field  of 
service.  He  went  out  among  men  for  men's 
sake.  The  Master  came  among  men,  as  He 
said,  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost  (Luke  19  :  10). 
Society  so  conceived  is  the  only  place  for  the 
Master's  disciple. 


JESUS   AND   SIN 

Jesus  left  His  disciples  in  the  world,  but  not 
of  it.  They  were  to  serve  it,  but  not  to  be  soiled 
with  its  sin.  With  sin  He  made  no  terms,  and 
for  it  He  had  no  quarter.  But  the  world  is  a 
world  of  sin.  How  did  Jesus  bear  Himself  to- 
wards it  ?  and  how  did  He  propose  to  deal  with 
it  in  Himself  and  in  the  world  ? 

1.  There  was  none  of  it  in  Him.  He  was 
the  only  man  who  ever  lived  in  the  world  of  whom 
this  could  be  said.  He  knew  no  sin  (2  Cor. 
5  :  21).  He  was  tempted,  of  course.  Other- 
wise He  could  not  have  known  us,  or  been  one 
with  us;  but  He  never  even  for  one  moment 
slipped  into  sin  (Heb.  4:  15).  He  challenged 
the  Jews  to  discover  it  in  Him.  To  be  sure,  this 
was  only  a  challenge  to  men,  and  therefore  an 
appeal  to  human  judgment;  but  it  implied  the 
claim  of  sinlessness  (John  8  :  46).  Can  you  find 
a  flaw  or  defect  in  Christ  ? 

2.  He  declared  that  He  had  come  to  strike  its 
chains  from  men.  The  word  translated  "for- 
give" in  the  Gospels  means  literally  "to  send 
away,"  "to  let  off."     "The  Son  of  man  hath 

29 


30  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

power  to  send  away  sin"  (Luke  5  :  24).  Make 
a  list  of  the  instances  where  Jesus  thus  forgives 
sin,  loosening  its  hold  on  men  and  women.  Just 
how  Jesus  was  to  do  this  for  all  men  in  all  time 
He  did  not  fully  explain.  Paul  explains  in  the 
sixth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  But 
to  do  this  always  for  all  was  the  purpose  of  His 
coming  (Matt,  i  :  21).  And  for  this  He  died 
(i  Cor.  15:3;  Heb.  9:28;  i  Pet.  2:24; 
I  John  1:7).  He  hated  sin,  and  was  its  im- 
placable foe. 

3.  There  is  a  lesson  for  life  here.  Sin  is  not 
a  thing  to  be  dallied  with.  It  is  neither  sufficient 
nor  safe  to  take  a  mere  negative  attitude  towards 
it.  Loathe  it.  Jesus  was  a  noble  hater.  How 
He  dealt  with  sin  when  it  approached  His 
own  soul  is  shown  in  the  accounts  of  the  tempta- 
tion. Which  Gospels  contain  an  account  of  the 
temptation  ?  Tell  from  memory  in  which  chap- 
ters of  these  Gospels  the  account  appears  and 
the  order  and  character  of  Christ's  temptations. 

4.  Jesus  deemed  sin  a  slavery.  *' Every  one 
that  committeth  sin  is  the  bond-servant  of  sin" 
(John  8 :  34).  And  slavery  was  a  thing  Jesus 
abhorred.  His  gospel  was  a  deliverance  (Luke 
4 :  18).  His  truth  was  to  set  men  free  (John 
8  :  32-36).  All  contraction  of  life  (John  10  :  10), 
all  stifling  of  its  larger  liberties  and  comprehen- 
sions and  upreachings  (John  4:14;  7:37),  were 
repugnant  to  Jesus.     And  sin  meant  just  these 


JESUS    AND    SIN  3 1 

things.  It  cut  men  off  from  range  after  range  of 
life  by  making  them  insensible  towards  it  (John 
9  :  41 ;  8  :  24).  And  it  bound  them.  Virtue 
and  purity  and  truth  do  not  bind  m.en.  They  are 
wings.  There  is  in  goodness  none  of  that  throt- 
thng  sense  of  imprisonment,  of  weighing  down, 
which  is  the  very  essence  of  sin.  Jesus  lived  in 
the  heavens  while  He  walked  on  earth.  And  He 
would  not  fasten  Himself  to  earth  by  sin.  He 
would  have  us  also  pure.  Find  all  the  appeals 
He  made  to  this  effect. 

5.  This  appears  clearly  in  Jesus'  teaching  as 
to  the  real  essence  of  sin.  When  the  Holy  Spirit 
should  come,  He  said,  He  would  convict  the 
world  of  sin,  "because  they  believe  not  on  Me  " 
(John  16:  9).  Sin  is  want  of  perception,  of 
completeness  of  hfe,  of  adaptation  to  our  divinely 
intended  environment,  of  connection  with  our 
true  relationship.  Sin  is  imperfectness,  par- 
tiality of  being.  Jesus  came  to  be  the  com- 
pleter and  fulfiller  of  life,  to  reinstate  our  life  in 
God  (John  5  :  24,  26,  40).  Sin  is  the  denial 
of  Him,  the  refusal  to  take  Him.  Unbelief  in 
Christ  is  the  great  sin.  What  does  this  signify- 
as  to  Christ's  divinity  ? 

6.  But  sin  is  not  a  matter  of  our  slavery  and 
loss  only.  It  is  an  affront  to  God.  The  soul 
that  has  been  touched  with  the  consciousness  of 
it  is  sensible  of  a  burden  of  guilt  which  only 
God  can  lift,  because  its  essense  is  offense  against 


32  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Him.  The  people  felt  this  (Mark  2:7;  Luke 
5  :  21).  But  Jesus  said  He  had  power  to  dis- 
charge men  of  this  burden  (Matt.  9:6;  Luke 
5  :  24).  What  does  this  signify  as  to  Christ's 
divinity  ? 

7.  Sin  is  not  a  sickness  merely,  or  a  disease. 
It  is  a  wicked  thing,  wrong  and  vile.  It  is  God's 
gifts  gone  astray  in  their  use.  The  New  Testa- 
ment word  for  it  is  "  missing  the  mark."  That 
was  what  Jesus  did  not  do.  That  was  what  He 
came  to  forgive  us  for  doing,  and  to  prevent  us 
from  doing  again.  It  would  be  well  for  men  if 
they  thought  of  it  now  and  acted  toward  it  as 
Jesus  did. 


VI 

JESUS   AND    STANDARDS 

1.  Jesus  did  not  attempt  to  issue  a  code  of 
laws  to  guide  human  conduct.  He  put  men  in 
possession  of  great  moral  principles  which  they 
would  have  to  apply  themselves.  He  did  not 
outline,  for  example,  the  duties  of  Christians  to 
one  another  in  the  Church.  He  specified  some 
of  them, — what,  for  example? — but  only  a  few. 
His  *'  new  commandment  "  contained  a  principle 
which  would  solve  all  (John  13 :  34,  35). 

2.  It  might  seem  from  Jesus'  teaching  that 
He  was  not  doing  this,  but  rather  dealing  with 
points  of  application  of  principle  to  practice, 
He  was  so  practical  and  illustrative  (Matt.  5  : 
39-42).  But  He  taught  in  this  way  in  order  to 
make  people  understand,  and  the  illustrations  He 
used  were  themselves  such  as  to  make  some  prin- 
ciple perfectly  clear.  They  set  up  standards 
(Mark  9 :  33  ;  Matt.  5  :  34>  37  ;  6  :  16  ;  Mark 
7  :  15  ;  Luke  9  :  60). 

3.  And  these  standards  were  absolute,  the 
more  boldly  absolute  because  Jesus  intentionally 
framed  His  teaching  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
casuistical    method   of    the    scribes.     They  ex- 

33 


34  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

plained  the  law  by  applying  it  to  special  cases, 
and  by  quibbling  and  fine  distinctions  showed 
how  far  a  man  could  go  in  violating  the  spirit  of 
the  command  without  violating  its  letter.  Jesus 
explained  by  application  also;  only  He  chose 
sharp  and  exacting  cases,  and  by  declaring  that 
the  principle  held  in  these  showed  that  it  held 
everywhere.  He  cut  off  escapes  and  pretexts, 
and  taught  that  standards  are  standards. 

4.  Men  say  :  *'  I  think  this  course  is  right. 
My  conscience  does  not  reprove  me.  Therefore 
it  is  right  for  me."  Nonsense.  Jesus  told  His 
disciples  that  some  day  men  would  kill  them  con- 
scientiously and  for  God's  sake  (John  16  :  2). 
He  pointed  out  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  moral 
color-blindness  (Matt.  6:  23).  He  did  not  ac- 
cuse the  teachers  of  Israel  of  dishonesty,  but  He 
said  they  were  wrong.  They  had  taught  con- 
scientiously, but  they  had  not  set  out  His  princi- 
ples (Matt.  5  :  T,2>^  34,  38,  39,  43,  44). 

5.  Jesus  was,  then,  the  teacher  of  absolute 
principles.  He  made  no  comparisons,  no  abate- 
ments for  human  lust  or  weakness.  Perfection 
was  His  standard  (Matt.  5  :  48).  He  had  at- 
tained it  (John  8 :  29).  He  demanded  it.  We 
are  to  be  His  disciples  in  this.  Right  is  to  be 
right.  Thinking  it  right  or  thinking  it  wrong 
does  not  make  a  thing  right  or  wrong.  It  is 
right  or  wrong  irrespective  of  our  thought  about 
it.     To  know  whether  it  is  right  or  wrong,  drag 


Jesus  and  standards  35 

it  into  Jesus'  presence,  and  see  how  He  looks  at 
it  and  how  it  looks  before  Him.  ''  Look  out  for 
number  one  "  is  an  accredited  human  maxim. 
But  what  words  of  Christ  can  you  find,  and  what 
acts  of  Christ,  that  utterly  condemn  it  ? 

6.  Jesus  set  up  an  absolute  standard  of  truth. 
Find  all  His  allusions  to  lies.  If  Satan  is  the 
father  of  lies,  how  can  any  lie  be  justifiable? 
Jesus  did  not  make  truthfulness  depend  upon  its 
profitableness  or  its  loss.  Men  must  be  true  and 
speak  the  truth  regardless  of  consequences. 

7.  Jesus  set  up  an  absolute  standard  of  un- 
selfishness. This  was  His  own  spirit  (Mark 
10  :  45  ;  Luke  22  :  27).  The  incarnation  was  the 
great  self-emptying  (Phil.  2:7).  The  kingdom 
with  its  service  of  God  and  man  was  to  be  above 
home,  friends,  comfort,  life  (Luke  14 :  ^;^  ;  Matt. 
19  :  29).     He  made  no  room  for  reservations. 

8.  Jesus  set  up  an  absolute  standard  of  purity. 
He  tolerated  no  uncleanness  whatsoever.  The 
inner  chambers  of  imagery  and  desire  must  be 
pure  (Mark  7:15).  A  hand  or  an  eye,  outer  or 
inner  sin,  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  claims  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  (Matt.  5  :  29,  30). 

9.  Jesus  set  up  an  absolute  standard  of  love 
(John  13  :  34).  Neither  dirt  (Luke  16  :  20),  nor 
poverty  (Luke  14:  13),  nor  social  inferiority 
(Luke  7  :  39),  were  annulments  of  the  law  of 
love.  He  Himself  loved  to  the  limit  (John 
13 :  i),  and  with  no  abatements.     The  law  of 


36  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

love  makes  it  impossible  to  say  :   "1  don't  like 
those  people.     I  can't  love  them." 

10.  Jesus  Himself  was  the  standard  He  set 
up.  He  was  unchangeable.  He  had  been  before 
Abraham  (John  8 ;  58).  He  would  be  forever 
(Heb.  13:  8).  The  absolute  Teacher  was  the 
absolute  lesson.  It  is  a  great  thing  in  this  day  of 
wavering,  of  quibbling  by  moral  evasions  and 
straddles,  to  have  a  faith  and  a  faithful  Master 
who  cannot  be  moved. 


VII 

JESUS   AND   TEMPTATION 

Men  often  refuse  to  take  help  from  the  exam- 
ple of  Jesus  in  the  matter  of  sin  because  they 
say,  or,  if  they  do  not  say,  they  feel,  that  Jesus 
was  not  really  tempted  to  sin.  He  was  able  not 
to  sin,  they  think ;  yet  "  able  not  to  sin  "  is  one 
thing,  "  not  able  to  sin  "  is  another  thing.  It  is 
certain  that  Jesus  was  tempted,  and  that  there- 
fore the  ability  to  sin  must  have  been  a  part  of 
our  weak  nature  which  He  took  on  in  the  incar- 
nation. But  He  brought  with  Him  into  our  hu- 
man life  the  ability  not  to  sin,  and  left  that  here 
in  humanity  when  He  went  away. 

1.  Jesus  was  tempted.  Nothing  is  clearer 
than  this.  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews is  unqualified  in  his  declaration  of  Jesus' 
capacity  to  be  our  high  priest  primarily  on  this 
account  (Heb.  2 :  18).  And  in  the  Synoptic 
Gospels  we  have  the  record  of  a  great  temptation 
that  came  to  Him  at  the  outset  of  His  ministry. 

2.  Jesus  was  tempted  in  real  ways,  "in  all 
points  like  as  we  are."  Where  are  those  words 
found  ?  Do  you  believe  them  ?  What  so  far  ap- 
pealed to  Him  as  to  constitute  a  real  temptation 
in   the  wilderness  we   are   told.     What   did  the 

37 


38  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

devil  present  to  Him  there  ?  Can  you  find  any 
resemblance  between  those  three  temptations  and 
the  three  of  which  John  speaks  in  i  John  2  :  16? 
Our  temptations  come  to  us  in  those  three  chan- 
nels. Think  back  over  the  past  day,  and  honestly 
examine  the  temptations  that  have  come  to  you  in 
these  three  w^ays.  What  were  Christ's  tempta- 
tions as  He  w^orked  out  His  mission?  (Matt. 
16  :  I ;    19  :  3  ;   22  :  18,  35  ;  John  8  :  6.) 

3.  Jesus  did  not  seek  temptation.  He  told 
Satan  it  was  wrong  for  men  to  tempt  God  (Matt. 
4:7).  It  is  also  wrong  for  men  to  tempt  them- 
selves. They  were  to  pray  to  escape  it  (Matt. 
6:13;  Luke  22  :  40).  They  were  to  watch  and 
pray  to  avoid  it  (Matt.  26 :  41).  Nothing  in 
Jesus'  life  justified  the  view  that  men  are  to  go 
recklessly  into  temptation  or  are  to  seek  it  for 
themselves.  There  are  men  who  think  that  no 
one  can  denounce  sin  who  does  not  know  it  from 
personal  observation  and  experience.  Such  men 
look  for  it,  tempt  themselves  with  it  sometimes, 
and  sometimes  yield  to  the  temptation.  If  they 
recover  themselves,  they  are  in  the  right  position, 
as  they  think,  to  warn  others.  The  reformed 
sinner  has  a  power,  undoubtedly.  But  Jesus  had 
a  greater  one.  When  did  He  show  Himself  the 
complete  master  of  men  in  speech?  in  moral 
power  ?  in  purity  ?  The  might  of  innocence  will 
always  be  greater  than  the  might  of  the  experi- 
ence of  sin. 


JESUS   AND   TEMPTATION  39 

4.  But  Jesus  did  not  flee  from  temptation  that 
lay  in  the  path  of  duty.  He  had  to  go  to  Jeru- 
salem; and  He  went,  though  it  involved  the 
triumphal  entry,  and  another  appeal  to  Him  to 
usurp  temporal  power  and  rule,  the  very  tempta- 
tion with  which  Satan  had  assailed  Him.  We 
have  no  right  to  go  out  of  our  way  to  meet  tempta- 
tion, or  to  go  out  of  God's  way  for  us  to  escape  it. 

5.  And  Jesus  conquered  all  His  temptations. 
His  rebuke  of  Simon  shows  how  completely  He 
was  conqueror  over  that  particular  temptation. 
No  man  need  ever  yield  to  his  temptations. 
What  Jesus  did  he  may  do  (i  Cor.  10  :  13 ;  James 
I  :  2,  12;  2  Peter  2  :  9).  Temptation  is  power- 
less against  a  man  unless  there  is  a  traitor  within 
the  man  who  opens  the  gates.  There  was  no 
such  traitor  in  Christ  (John  14:  30). 

Why  did  the  evangelist  call  Satan  ^'  the 
tempter"?  (Matt.  4:  3.)  If  he  is  the  tempter, 
what  right  has  any  man  to  play  into  his  hands  by 
walking  into  temptation  ? 

What  were  the  temptations  of  the  disciples? 
They  were  the  men,  as  Jesus  said,  who  "have 
continued  with  Me  in  My  temptations  "  (Luke 
22  :  28).  But  they  had  their  own.  What  were 
they?  Peter's?  Thomas's?  Judas's  ?  Alas! 
neither  they  nor  we  have  met  ours  "without 
sin,"  but  He  met  His  "without  sin"  that  He 
might  take  care  of  our  sin  (Heb.  2:17,  18),  and 
be  able  to  deliver  us  when  we  are  tempted. 


vm 

JESUS   AND   POLITICS 

The  political  situation  of  a  citizen  of  the  Jewish 
state  in  Jesus'  day  was  peculiar.  The  organi- 
zation of  Judaism  contemplated  its  independence. 
The  days  of  its  dreariest  darkness  had  been  the 
times  of  captivity.  And  now  its  liberties  were  for- 
ever gone.  Syria  was  one  of  the  provinces  of  the 
Roman  empire.  The  Jewish  people  were  allowed, 
however,  to  retain  considerable  autonomy.  They 
had  their  own  king,  Herod ;  but  they  had  also 
their  governor  from  Rome,  Pontius  Pilate.  From 
the  account  of  the  trial  and  death  of  Christ  what 
can  you  learn  of  the  relations  of  Herod  and  Pilate, 
and  the  powers  they  represented  ? 

The  situation  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  Jews. 
The  great  body  of  them  followed  the  Pharisees 
who  were  patriots,  longing  for  the  independence 
of  Israel,  hating  the  dominion  of  Rome,  but 
enemies  of  the  Herodian  dynasty  (Josephus,  An- 
tiquities xvii.3,  4).  A  smaller  faction  was  composed 
of  the  Herodians  who  supported  the  family  of  Herod^ 
and,  as  some  hold,  were  favorable  to  Rome,  or,  as 
others  maintain,  were  antagonistic  to  Rome,  and 
supported  the  Herodian  dynasty  as  the  last  hope 
40 


JESUS   AND    POLITICS  4I 

of  retaining  for  the  Jews  a  fragment  of  national 
government.  The  whole  nation  was  full  of  dis- 
cussion and  debate,  of  longing  for  the  liberties 
that  had  gone  by  forever,  and  yet  were  even  now 
near  at  hand,  if  men  would  but  see  it,  in  a  fuller 
and  more  real  sense  in  the  Messiah. 

Into  this  great  tangle  of  politics  Jesus  came. 
To  make  His  position  more  difficult,  He  was  not 
only  a  Jewish  citizen  and  a  Roman  subject,  but 
also  the  Messiah  whom  the  Jews  were  expecting  as 
the  promised  king  in  Herod's  place,  and  their 
deliverer  from  Rome.  Furthermore,  He  was 
Himself  the  sovereign  of  all  this  paltry  human 
strife,  and  might  have  lifted  Himself  loftily 
over  it  as  Lord.  What  did  He  do,  and  what 
can  we  learn  from  Him  as  to  what  we  should 
do? 

I.  He  was  a  law-abiding  man.  He  violated 
no  ordinances  of  the  state,  whether  the  Jewish 
state  or  the  Roman  empire.  All  the  testimony 
against  Him  at  His  ecclesiastical  trial  broke  down 
(Mark  14:  56,  59).  At  His  civil  trial  three 
charges  were  made  (Luke  23  :  2).  The  first  was 
a  deliberate  falsehood.  The  last  was  if  possible 
still  less  true.  Pilate  ignored  them,  and  exam- 
ined Jesus  on  the  second,  and  found  Him  inno- 
cent (Luke  23  :  4),  Other  charges  collapsed 
also,  and  Pilate  declared  Jesus  guiltless  (John 
18:  38;  Matt.  27:  24).  For  three  years  Jesus 
lived  a  public  life  under  the  injustice  of  Judaism 


42  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

and  the  tyranny  of  Rome,  and  no  assault  on  His 
perfect  probity  could  be  sustained.  Jesus  was  a 
good  citizen. 

2.  He  encouraged  obedience  to  law,  and  re- 
pressed all  disorder.  The  Pharisees  and  Hero- 
dians  long  sought  to  entrap  Him  (Mark  $:  6 ; 
Luke  II  :  53,  54;  John  7:  32;  11:  47,  57).  At 
last  they  proposed  the  problem  of  taxation.  Should 
a  Jew  pay  taxes  to  Csesar?  (Matt.  22  :  17-21.) 
If  He  said,  "Yes,"  He  was  not  a  patriot;  if 
<'No,"  He  was  a  traitor.  But  Jesus  answered, 
"Yes,"  yet  prevented  the  Pharisees  from  availing 
themselves  of  His  reply.  He  told  men  the  truth 
without  fear  of  consequences.  Again  He  showed 
His  wisdom  by  going  off  into  the  desert  when  the 
people  were  about  to  make  of  Him  a  secular 
leader,  and  start  a  political  uprising  (John  6  :  15). 
Jesus  was  not  a  revolutionary. 

3.  He  declined  to  attempt  to  obtain  by 
political  methods  what  He  knew  could  be  ac- 
complished only  by  spiritual  forces.  He  was  not 
a  civil  reformer.  He  was  a  redeemer  of  life. 
Redeemed  life  would  express  itself  in  purified 
government.  Satan  tempted  Him  to  take  the 
short  cut, — seize  power  over  men,  then  change 
character  in  men  (Matt.  4:8).  Jesus  reversed 
the  process.  To  have  become  the  kind  of  a  king 
the  Galileans  proposed  in  John  6:15  would  have 
frustrated  His  mission.  He  sought  in  society  and 
in  politics  what   He  sought  in  each  man's  life 


JESUS    AND    POLITICS  43 

(Matt.     12:  36;    23:  26;    Luke   6 :  45 ;    John 
10 :  10).     Jesus  was  a  true  reformer. 

4.  He  laid  the  foundations  of  a  true  state.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  popular  government  then.  There  was 
no  franchise.  Government  was  from  above  down. 
Jesus  set  forth  principles  which  have  reversed 
this.  And  in  such  a  state  as  ours  each  of  us  has 
duties  far  greater  than  belonged  to  citizens  or 
subjects  in  Jesus'  day.  Then  men  endured  be- 
cause they  had  no  power  to  cure.  Now  if  things 
are  wrong,  we  are  accountable.  Wrong  we  must 
set  right.  We  are  building  the  kingdom  which 
Jesus  began.  It  becomes  more  and  more  a  great 
brotherhood  of  disciples,  and  we  must  act  in  it  as 
Jesus  taught  His  disciples  to  act  in  their  brother- 
hood. 

5.  Some  people  think  that  Jesus*  doctrine  of 
non-resistance  to  evil  makes  it  impossible  for  a 
Christian  to  resist  wrong  and  evil  in  the  state. 
But  what  He  said  about  the  rights  of  the  weak, 
and  His  own  conduct  in  caring  for  the  needy, 
compel  us  to  use  now  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment in  which  He  and  His  disciples  had  no  voice, 
but  in  which  we  have  a  voice,  to  accomplish  the 
ends  He  enjoined.  Seek  out  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  on  these  points.  And,  if  we  are  to  be 
right  in  ourselves,  we  are  to  make  right  all  we 
can. 

6.  Some  people  think  that  Jesus'  declaration 


44  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

that  His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world  (John 
i8  :  36)  deprives  His  disciples  of  duties  that  have 
to  do  with  human  government.  But,  if  all  who 
believe  in  an  eternal  kingdom  hold  aloof  from 
their  political  duties,  the  state  will  be  delivered 
to  the  very  men  who  will  prevent  Christ  from  be- 
ing its  king  and  His  principles  its  laws.  All  the 
duties  He  urged  upon  His  disciples  were  present, 
human  duties,  and  make  men  neighborly,  good 
citizens  of  their  communities,  true  members  of 
society  organized  for  order,  which  is  the  state 
(Matt.  18:  15,  35;  19:  17-21;  Mark  9 :  42 ; 
10:  43-45;  Luke  6:  38;  Luke  10:  25-37). 

7.  The  wretched  qualities  of  the  "politician  " 
Jesus  despised, — manipulation,  compromise,  the 
exaltation  of  expediency  above  principle.  But  no 
one  ever  has  equalled  Him  in  broad  humanity, 
constructive  achievement,  noble  management  of 
men,  and  that  use  of  sentimental  and  spiritual 
forces  to  strengthen,  purify,  and  advance  society 
which  is  the  greatest  political  wisdom  and  power. 

Would  that  each  one  of  us  might  be  in  society 
as  constructive  and  righteous  and  pure  as  Jesus, 
King  of  the  unseen  Kingdom,  and  therefore 
truest  citizen  of  the  seen. 


IX 

JESUS  AND  THE  CHURCH 

Just  as  Jesus  bore  relations  to  two  states  did 
He  bear  relations  to  two  Churches.  One  was  the 
established  Jewish  Church.  The  other  was  the 
Christian  Church  which  He  was  founding.  The 
word  "Church"  occurs  only  three  times  in  the 
Gospels,  and  each  time  referring  to  the  body  of 
Christ's  disciples  (Matt.  i6:  i8;  i8 :  17). 
Christ's  Church  was  still  a  part  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  and  it  was  some  years  before  the  breach 
finally  came.  After  His  ascension,  the  disciples 
continued  to  worship  in  the  temple  (Luke  24 :  53 ; 
Acts  3:1);  and  Paul  was  accustomed  to  go 
constantly  to  synagogues  on  his  missionary  jour- 
neys and  preach  there  to  Jews  as  himself  one  of 
them.     Find  all  the  instances  of  this. 

Jesus  trained  the  new  Church  within  the  old. 
His  relations  to  the  new  Church  during  His 
earthly  life  were  His  personal  relations  to  His 
disciples.  His  formal  ecclesiastical  relations  were 
to  the  Jewish  Church. 

I.  He  grew  up  in  it.  Joseph  and  Mary  were 
devout  people  (Matt,  i:  19;  Luke  i:  46-55). 
They  trained  Him  in  love  of  the  Church  and  the 
45 


46  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Scriptures,  and  took  Him  at  the  age  of  twelve  to 
Jerusalem  (Luke  2  :  41-51),  where  in  the  temple 
He  displayed  His  reverent  and  earnest  interest  in 
the  institutions  of  His  people.  Jesus  illustrates 
the  beauty  and  strength  of  a  life  brought  up  from 
infancy  in  the  Church  of  God. 

2.  He  loved  the  buildings  of  the  Church,  and 
at  Nazareth  His  custom  for  years  had  been  to 
take  part  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
public  services  of  the  Sabbath  (Luke  4:  16). 
Often  during  His  ministry  we  read  of  His  pres- 
ence in  the  synagogue  (Matt.  12:  9;  13:  54; 
Luke  4:  33,  44;  6:  6;  13:  10;  John  6:  59). 
*'  I  ever  taught  in  synagogues,"  He  told  the  high 
priest  (John  18  :  20).  "  I  sat  daily  in  the  temple 
teaching,"  He  told  the  people  who  came  to  arrest 
Him  (Matt.  26:  55;  Luke  19:  45,  47;  20 :  i ; 
21:  37;  John  7:  14;  8:  20;  10:  23).  Jesus 
was  often  in  the  house  of  God.  It  was  homelike 
and  natural  to  Him. 

3.  He  so  loved  the  places  of  the  Church's 
worship  that  He  could  not  endure  their  misuse 
and  pollution.  He  wanted  no  bartering  in  the 
sanctuary  (John  2:  14,  15;  Mark  11:  15,  16). 
And  other  abuses  He  opposed  also, — display  and 
pretension  in  worship  (Matt.  6  :  1-6) ;  formal 
repetitiousness  (Matt.  6:7);  all  show  of  holiness 
for  the  eye  of  man  (Matt.  6 :  18-20) ;  the  en- 
slavement of  tradition  (Mark  7 :  1-8) ;  the 
wretched  spphistries  by  which  men  avoided  obli- 


JESUS    AND    THE    CHURCH  47 

gation  while  they  preserved  the  show  of  piety 
(Mark  7:  10-13);  emphasis  on  externals  rather 
than  inner  and  vital  things  (Mark  7 :  18-23). 
The  kind  of  a  Church  which  Christ  desires  is  de- 
scribed by  Paul  (Eph.  5  :  25-27).  Jesus  was 
against  evil  in  the  Church. 

4.  The  Jewish  Church  set  itself  against  Christ. 
The  Pharisees  and  chief  priests  were  His  chief 
foes  (Matt.  12:  14;  Mark  s-  ^l  John  7:  32; 
9:  22;  Matt.  27:  62).  Study  the  attitude  of 
the  Pharisees  towards  Jesus,  and  then  consider 
the  noble  love  of  Jesus  for  the  institutions  they  so 
grossly  misrepresented. 

He  respected  the  officers  of  the  Church,  though 
they  showed  themselves  despicable.  He  sub- 
mitted to  arrest,  and  He  made  no  resistance  at 
His  trial  (John  18:  5-8,  28;  19:  17).  And  He 
upheld  the  institutions  of  the  Church.  He  paid 
the  temple  tax  for  both  Himself  and  Peter  (Matt. 
17:  24-27).  He  bade  the  ten  lepers  go  and 
show  themselves  to  the  priests  (Luke  17 :  14),  as 
He  had  told  a  leper  earlier  in  His  ministry  to  do, 
adding,  "And  offer  for  thy  cleansing  according 
as  Moses  commanded  "  (Luke  5  :  14).  Jesus 
distinguished  between  the  Church  and  the  abuses 
that  disfigured  it,  and  did  not  let  His  love  for  the 
former  suffer  because  of  His  aversion  to  the 
latter. 

5.  Jesus  brought  life  into  the  Church.  To  be 
sure,   the   Church   killed   Him  at  last,  but  His 


48  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

death  was  the  means  of  abiding  Hfe.  He  spoke 
fresh  and  vital  words  to  men  who  were  sick  unto 
death  amid  formal  and  meaningless  terms  (Luke 
4 :  22,  36 ;  John  7  :  46).  He  did  mighty,  quick- 
ening deeds,  and  He  did  not  refrain  from  doing 
them  even  on  the  Sabbath  and  in  the  synagogue 
(Luke  4:  31-37;  Mark  I  :  21-34;  3;  1-6).  It 
is  easy  for  any  institution  to  harden  even  to  the 
extent  of  opposing  the  very  objects  of  its  es- 
tablishment. That  was  what  the  Jewish  Church 
was  doing.  Jesus  accepted  its  opposition,  but 
refused  to  be  crushed  by  it.  He  continued  to 
offer  men  Hfe,  and  to  welcome  individuals  who 
would  accept  it,  and  to  yearn  over  His  Church 
with  motherlike  love  (John  i:  11,  12;  5:  40; 
Matt.  23  :  37  ;  Luke  19 :  41,  42). 

6.  We  are  members  of  a  better  Church,  Christ's 
own  Church.  She  is  not  what  she  ought  to  be, 
but  she  is  better  than  we  are.  She  loves  Christ. 
They  are  mistaken  who  think  that  she  would  not 
welcome  Him  back  with  eagerness,  or  who  charge 
her  with  opposing  Him  or  disobeying  His  word. 
We  can  be  in  our  Church  what  Jesus  tried  to  be 
in  His,  and  we  shall  be  cheered  and  welcomed 
and  helped  where  He  was  antagonized  and  re- 
jected and  slain.  What  He  tried  to  be  and  do  in 
His  Church,  we  are  to  try  to  be  and  do  in  ours. 


JESUS   AND   HIS    ENEMIES 

It  seems  impossible  that  Jesus  should  have  had 
enemies.  He  was  so  loving,  so  good,  so  unof- 
fending. Yet  He  was  soon  disliked  by  many  of 
His  countrymen,  and  their  dislike  ripened  into 
hatred  and  implacable  enmity.  It  was  aroused 
in  Nazareth,  His  home,  and  even  at  the  very  out- 
set of  His  ministry,  by  some  pointed  hints  that 
the  mercy  of  God  was  perhaps  wider  than  the 
Jews  had  supposed.  The  very  supposition  filled 
the  people  with  wrath,  and  they  made  an  assault 
on  Jesus  (Luke  4 :  24-30).  Shordy  after,  a  pro- 
posal to  forgive  a  man's  sins  aroused  the  indig- 
nant wrath  of  the  Pharisees,  and  they  denounced 
Him  as  a  blasphemer,  though  He  supported  His 
offer  of  forgiveness  by  healing  the  man  of  his 
palsy  (Luke  5  :  21).  Then  the  conduct  of  Him- 
self and  His  disciples  in  associating  with  the 
publicans  irritated  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  yet 
more  (Luke  5  :  30) ;  and  this  anger  became  un- 
controllable when  Jesus  broke  through  their  tra- 
ditions about  the  Sabbath,  and  healed  a  man 
with  a  withered  hand  (Luke  6  :  7-1 1). 

These  were  the  beginnings.  The  end  was  His 
49 


50  THE    PRINXIPLES    OF    JESUS 

death  at  the  hands  of  these  foes.  They  were  the 
leaders  of  the  people,  the  very  men  who  should 
have  recognized  and  welcomed  the  Messiah.  In- 
stead, they  led  the  good-hearted  common  folk 
into  a  day's  madness  which  slew  the  world's 
Saviour  (John  8:  59;  10:  31,  39;  11:  47-57; 
18:  3,  12,  28,  32,  40;  19:  7,  15,  16).  The 
most  loving  man  who  ever  lived,  then,  was  hunted 
to  death  by  His  countrymen. 

I.  It  appears,  accordingly,  that  goodness  is 
no  guaranty  that  a  man  will  have  no  foes.  Jesus 
knew  that  He  would  be  despised  and  rejected. 
Mr.  Elbert  Hubbard  thinks  that  '^  the  matter  of 
martyrdom  in  the  good  old  days  gone  was  only  a 
huge  misunderstanding,  and  the  tragic  joke  of  it 
all  lies  in  the  fact  that  persecutor  and  martyr  are 
cut  from  the  same  piece.  Both  were  good  men." 
It  is  true  that  the  men  who  killed  Jesus  were  very 
conscientious,  but  to  be  conscientious  is  not  the 
same  thing  as  being  good.  Truth  and  error  are 
not  identical,  and  because  one  man  conscientiously 
serves  error  it  does  not  follow  that  he  is  a  good 
man  and  cut  from  the  same  piece  as  a  man  who 
conscientiously  serves  truth.  The  moral  signifi- 
cance of  enmity  to  Christ  cannot  be  dissipated  by 
Mr.  Hubbard's  foolish  obliteration  of  objective 
moral  realities.  The  Son  of  God  was  hated  by 
Caiaphas,  and  those  who  are  of  the  Son  of  God 
will  be  hated  still  by  those  who  are  of  Caiaphas 
(i  John  3:  12,  13). 


JESUS    AND    HIS    ENEMIES  5I 

2.  Jesus  did  not  invite  the  enmity  of  men. 
He  did  not  seek  martyrdom,  or  the  self-righteous 
satisfaction  of  persecution  (John  7:1).  He  strove 
hard  to  dissuade  His  enemies  from  their  evil  pur- 
poses (John  8:37,  40).  He  avoided  the  pub- 
licity that  would  arouse  trouble  (John  6  :  15  ; 
7:  11;   II  :  9,  11;   12;  s^y 

3.  Yet  He  did  not  flee  from  His  enemies 
(John  7 :  44;  II  :  7,  8).  He  had  His  own 
work  to  do,  and  He  went  resolutely  forward  with 
it  in  the  face  of  opposition  and  in  spite  of  His 
foes  (John  7  :  25,  26).  Even  when  they  were 
openly  plotting  against  Him  and  seeking  to  get 
Him  into  their  power,  He  walked  quite  uncon- 
cernedly along  His  way  (John  11:56,  57312:12). 
Jesus  was  not  afraid  of  His  enemies.  He  knew 
His  work  and  what  it  would  cost,  and  that  noth- 
ing could  be  done  to  Him  that  would  prevent 
His  accomplishment  of  His  duty.  So  He  was 
quiet  and  still,  and  looked  men  in  the  eye  while 
He  waited  for  the  clock,  which  He  alone  saw,  to 
strike  His  hour  (John  7  :  6,  7 ;  8  :  20;  13  :  i ; 
17:  i). 

4.  He  did  not  needlessly  antagonize  men,  but 
He  did  fearlessly  oppose  them,  and  spoke  the 
truth  about  them  when  it  was  His  duty  to  do 
so  (Luke  II  :  37-52).  He  warned  the  people 
against  false  prophets  (Matt.  7:15).  He  con- 
demned shallow  moral  judgments  that  opened  the 
way  for   evil    (Matt.  5  :  17-48).     He   reproved 


52  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

hypocrisy  (Matt.  7  :  5,  16),  and  insincerity  (Matt. 
II  :  18,  19).  He  spoke  the  truth  to  the  Phari- 
sees when  they  spoke  falsehoods,  hard  (Matt.  1 2  : 
22-37)  or  soft  (Matt.  12  :  38-45),  to  Him.  And, 
when  the  bitterness  of  His  enemies  went  beyond 
all  bounds,  declared  itself  openly,  and  set  in  such 
hardened  antagonism  to  Him  that  He  could  not 
do  anything  with  it,  He  spoke  bravely  and  plainly 
to  the  Pharisees  and  to  the  world  of  those  quali- 
ties in  them  which  were  evil  and  wholly  evil,  and 
worthy  only  of  the  utter  condemnation  of  the 
Son  of  man  and  of  all  true  and  sincere  men 
(Matt  23;  John  8:  21-59).  Jesus  never  said 
or  did  one  bitter  personal  thing.  He  was  attack- 
ing the  terrible  principles  for  which  the  Pharisees 
stood,  and  which  were  barring  fast  against  men 
the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

There  are  dangers,  but  there  is  truth,  in  the 
counsel  given  by  a  Kansas  lawyer  to  a  graduating 
class  in  Columbus,  O.,  several  years  ago.  "  When 
a  man  has  proved  himself  a  thorough-paced 
scoundrel,  treat  him  like  one,  affront  him,  oppose 
him,  risk  something,  risk  all,  to  break  down  his 
influence,  to  terminate  his  career;  do  this,  and 
you  will  feel  a  happiness  inside  you  that  is  royal 
— and  you  will  be  one  among  a  thousand." 

5.  If  there  are  dangers  in  that  course  which 
need  to  be  guarded  against,  there  are  fewer  in 
the  counsel  of  Jesus  about  our  enemies.  We  are 
to  love  them  (Matt.  5  :  44),  and  to  do  good  to 


JESUS    AND    HIS    ENEMIES  53 

them  (Luke  6  :  27,  35  ;  Rom.  12  :  20).  That 
was  the  way  Jesus  treated  His  enemies.  At  the 
end  He  gently  suggested  to  them  to  be  just  (John 
18  :  19-24),  hoping  against  hope  to  awaken  in 
them  the  senses  that  slept ;  and  He  refused  to  use 
any  violence  against  them  (John  18:  10,  11; 
Matt.  26  :  53). 

6.  Through  all  Hir  troubles,  a  poor  man,  for- 
saken at  last  by  His  friends,  and  standing  alone 
with  the  whole  power  of  the  Jewish  Church  and 
state  and  the  Roman  empire  thrown  against  Him, 
Jesus  was  the  calm,  dignified,  heroic  figure.  Such 
a  man,  we  should  have  thought,  would  have  been 
crushed  and  humiliated.  But  who  sees  Caiaphas 
or  Herod  or  Pilate  ?  Ecce  Homo  !  All  eyes  are 
upon  the  Man  !  Who  of  us  can  be  as  calm  and 
true  amid  such  disasters?  Jesus  was  the  con- 
queror though  His  foes  stood  triumphant  over 
Him.  Let  us  understand  that  no  enemy  can 
conquer  a  Christian — except  an  enemy  within  the 
walls. 

Others  than  Christians  have  found  out  this 
truth.  The  old  lama  in  Kipling's  Kim  taught  it 
to  the  boy  after  he  had  been  struck  in  the  struggle 
over  his  chart  and  in  anger,  forgetting  himself, 
had  struck  back  again  : 

"A  smoky  lamp  burned  in  a  niche,  but  the 
full  moonlight  beat  it  down ;  and  by  the  mixed 
light,  stooping  above  the  food-bag  and  cups,  Kim 
moved  like  a  tall  ghost. 


54  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

"  '  Ai !  But  now  I  have  let  the  blood  cool,  my 
head  still  beats  and  drums,  and  there  is  a  cord 
round  the  back  of  my  neck.' 

<* '  No  wonder.  It  was  a  strong  blow.  May  he 
who  dealt  it ' 

** '  But  for  my  own  passions  there  would  have 
been  no  evil.' 

"'What  evil?  Thou  hast  saved  the  Sahibs 
from  death  they  deserved  a  hundred  times.' 

*'  'The  lesson  is  not  well  learnt,  chela.'  The 
lama  came  to  rest  on  a  folded  blanket,  as  Kim 
went  forward  with  his  evening  routine.  'The 
blow  was  but  a  shadow  upon  a  shadow.  Evil  in 
itself — my  legs  weary  apace  these  latter  days  ! — 
it  met  evil  in  me — an'ger,  rage,  and  a  lust  to  re- 
turn evil.  These  wrought  in  my  blood,  woke 
tumult  in  my  stomach,  and  dazzled  my  ears.* 
Here  he  drank  scalding  black  tea  ceremonially, 
taking  the  hot  cup  from  Kim's  hand.  '  Had  I 
been  passionless,  the  evil  blow  would  have  done 
bodily  evil — a  scar,  or  a  bruise — which  is  illusion. 
But  my  mind  was  not  abstracted,  for  rushed  in 
straightway  a  lust  to  let  the  Spiti  men  kill.  In 
fighting  that  lust,  my  soul  was  torn  and  wrenched 
beyond  a  thousand  blows.  Not  till  I  had  re- 
peated the  Blessings  (he  meant  the  Buddhist 
Beatitudes)  did  I  achieve  calm.  But  the  evil 
planted  in  me  by  that  moment's  carelessness 
works  out  to  its  end.  Just  is  the  Wheel,  swerv- 
ing not  a  hair  !     Learn  the  lesson,  chela. ' 


JESUS    AND    HIS    ENEMIES  55 

"*It  is  too  high  for  me,'  Kim  muttered.  *1 
am  still  all  shaken.  I  am  glad  I  hurt  the 
man.' 

"'I  felt  that  sleeping  upon  thy  knees,  in  the 
wood  below.  It  disquieted  me  in  my  dreams — 
the  evil  in  thy  soul  working  through  to  mine. 
Yet  on  the  other  hand  '  — he  loosed  his  rosary — 
'  I  have  acquired  merit  by  saving  two  lives — the 
lives  of  those  that  wronged  me.  Now  I  must  see 
into  the  Cause  of  Things.  The  boat  of  my  soul 
staggers.' 

"<  Sleep  and  be  strong.  That  is  wisest.'  'I 
meditate :  there  is  a  need  greater  than  thou 
knovvest.' 

"  Till  the  dawn,  hour  after  hour,  as  the  moon- 
light paled  on  the  high  peaks,  and  that  which  had 
been  belted  blackness  on  the  sides  of  the  far  hills 
showed  as  tender  green  forest,  the  lama  stared 
fixedly  at  the  wall.  From  time  to  time  he 
groaned." 

Are  any  men  enemies  of  me  ?  Do  I  love  them  ? 
Have  I  tried  to  win  their  love  ?  Have  I  tried 
again  ?  Have  I  refused  ever  to  give  up  trying  ? 
Are  they  still  my  enemies?  Then  let  me  love 
them  still.  Are  any  men  enemies  of  Christ,  of 
truth,  of  purity,  and  of  me  because  I  fight  for 
Christ  and  truth  and  purity  ?  Still  I  must  love 
even  these,  but  their  works  I  will  oppose  and 
accept  what  consequences  follow,  knowing  that 
the  time  of  evil  is  but  short,  and  that  Christ  will 


56  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

soon  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet  and  me  upon 
the  throne  at  His  side  (i  Cor.  15:  25;  Rev. 
3:  21.) 

Though  His  enemies  were  many  and  strong 
Jesus  was  never  dismayed,  never  overcome,  never 
for  a  moment  fearful.  Our  battle  is  not  like  His 
and  we  may  not  conquer  so  steadily  but  we  may 
with  a  certain  human  advantage,  thanks  to  His 
assistance,  face  our  foes  with  the  certainty  of 
victory. 

"To  stand  with  defeat  behind  us,  and  to  face 
Godward,  knowing  that  every  sin  has  left  an  im- 
press on  character  that  will  need  the  vigilance  of 
the  awakened  manhood  to  overcome,  and  yet  to 
know  that  the  soul  never  stands  alone,  that  the 
power  to  overcome  is  always  within  the  grasp  of 
the  man  who  fights  to  win,  gives  victory." 


XI 

JESUS  AND  FORGIVENESS 

Misunderstood  and  persecuted,  hated  by  the 
very  people  He  had  come  to  help  and  to  save,  we 
might  have  expected  that  Jesus,  if  He  had  been 
only  a  man,  would  have  hardened  His  heart,  and, 
washing  His  hands  of  responsibility,  have  de- 
clared :  "  Once  and  again  I  have  offered  Myself 
and  eternal  life  to  you,  and  you  have  rejected  Me 
and  it.  The  day  is  now  past.  Once  and  again 
you  have  answered  My  love  with  hate.  The 
time  of  forgiveness  is  gone."  But  that  was  not 
Jesus'  way,  for  Himself  or  for  His  disciples. 

1.  He  told  men  they  must  forgive.  This  was 
a  part  of  the  prayer  He  taught  His  disciples 
(Matt.  6:12;  Luke  11:4).  As  they  asked  God 
for  His  forgiveness  they  must  forgive  men  (Luke 
6:37).  "  If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses," 
He  said,  "neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your 
trespasses  (Matt.  6  :  15).  Later  in  His  ministry 
He  put  this  truth  most  forcibly  in  a  parable 
(Matt.  18:  21-35).  The  prayer  and  the  life  that 
are  not  filled  with  forgiveness  cannot  be  accept- 
able to  God  (Mark  11  :  25). 

2.  He  taught  them  that  there  was  to  be  no 

57 


58  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

limit  to  forgiveness.  *'  How  often  shall  I  forgive 
my  brother?"  asked  Peter.  ''Seven  times?" 
"Not  seven  times,"  Jesus  answered,  ''but 
seventy  times  seven"  (!Matt.  18:  21,  22).  That 
was  equivalent  to  saying  that  there  is  no  limit 
(Luke  17:  3,  4). 

3.  Jesus  Himself,  who  bade  us  forgive  sins 
against  ourselves,  forgave  sin  against  God.  This 
was  one  of  the  things  that  aroused  the  hostility  of 
the  Pharisees  (Matt.  9  :  2-7 ;  Luke  7 :  47-49). 
They  charged  before  Pilate  that  He  had  broken 
their  law  by  making  Himself  equal  with  God 
(John  19:  7;  10:  ^;^').  How  could  a  man  for- 
give sins  ?  Jesus  did  it.  That  was  part  of  the 
glad  tidings  of  the  gospel.  The  Pharisees  had 
lost  the  freedom  of  faith  and  the  deliverance  of 
God.  Jesus  came  to  open  the  prisons  that  held 
men  and  to  set  them  free.  In  Him  God  for  His 
sake  forgave  men  (Eph.  4:  32;   Col.  3:  13). 

4.  And  Jesus  forgave  sin  and  enmity  against 
•  Himself  also.  He  never  demanded  of  His  dis- 
ciples what  He  did  not  do  or  give  in  His  own 
case.  His  rule  was,  "  Ye  should  do  as  I  have 
done  to  you  "  (John  13:15).  He  forgave  Judas. 
Indeed,  He  had  known  from  the  beginning  that 
Judas  was  to  betray  Him.  Yet  He  had  never 
betrayed  Judas.  The  last  night  of  all,  not  one 
of  the  other  apostles  knew  what  Judas  was  going 
to  do.  Did  Jesus  hope  to  save  Judas  ?  In  any 
event,  there  was  no  bitterness  in  His  heart  towards 


JESUS    AND    FORGIVENESS  59 

him  (John  13  :  27).  And  how  loving  even  still 
is  the  Saviour's  manner  when  the  traitor  came 
with  his  kiss  !  "  Friend,  do  that  for  which  thou 
art  come"  (Matt.  26:  50).  He  forgave  His 
murderers,  "Father  forgive  them"  (Luke 
23 :  34).  He  forgave  Peter.  Thrice  he  denied 
Him,  but  Jesus  did  not  cast  him  off,  and  He 
brought  him  back  in  due  time  to  His  love  (Mark 
16:  7;  John  21  :  15-19). 

5.  But  were  there  no  bounds  to  forgiveness  at 
all?  In  Luke  17  :  3,  4,  the  Lord  said,  "  If  thy 
brother  repent,  forgive  him."  Does  He  mean 
that  if  our  brother  does  not  repent  we  are  not  to 
forgive  him?  Surely  not,  and  yet  surely  so. 
The  w^ord  translated  here  "forgive"  means 
literally  to  let  oif  or  to  send  away ;  and  to  let  off 
or  send  away  a  trespass  or  sin  necessitates  a 
mutual  desire  to  get  rid  of  it.  Jesus  could  not 
send  out  of  a  man's  life  a  sin  the  man  wanted  to 
retain ;  and  we  cannot  obliterate  an  offense  that 
the  offender  will  not  let  go.  Our  attitude  can 
only  be  one  of  readiness  to  forgive  on  our  part. 

But  will  God  forgive  us  for  all  sin  and  every 
sin  if  we  repent  ?  Are  there  no  sins  beyond  the 
reach  of  His  forgiveness  ?  There  is  a  saying  of 
Christ  on  this  point  that  has  caused  many  sensi- 
tive souls  great  trouble  (Matt.  12  :  31,  32  ;  Mark 
3:  28-30;  Luke  12:  10).  But  Jesus  is  here  say- 
ing only  that,  if  men  will  not  accept  forgiveness, 
they   cannot,  of  course,  be   given   it.     That  is 


60  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

what  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Spirit  is — such 
a  hardening  of  soul  as  makes  the  perception  of 
spiritual  things  impossible.  The  callous  heart 
loses  all  capacity  of  response.  When  men  call 
Christ  unclean,  it  is  impossible  that  they  shall 
accept  from  Him  forgiveness  for  what  is  unclean. 
An  unclean  Christ  could  not  forgive  uncleanness. 
But  so  long  as  men  have  a  ray  of  spiritual  dis- 
cernment in  them  Jesus  will  not  give  them  up. 

6.  Jesus  always  forgave.  He  never  asked 
forgiveness.  Alone  of  all  men  He  so  lived  that, 
though  offended  against.  He  never  truly  offended. 
Not  one  careless  act,  not  one  unjust  or  unkind 
word,  not  one  slip  or  blunder  or  sin,  marred  His 
life  and  required  apology  and  confession.  With 
us  how  different  life  has  been !  We  talk  about 
forgiving,  but  we  need  to  be  forgiven.  Jesus 
made  plain  that  we  are  to  ask  for  forgiveness  as 
well  as  to  grant  it.  Our  worship  of  God  is  ren- 
dered worthless  equally  by  unforgiveness  and  un- 
repentance  (Matt.  5  :  23,  24).  Are  there  any 
offenses  in  our  lives  never  confessed  ?  Are  there 
some  of  God's  children  waiting  to  forgive  us 
when  we  repent  and  go  to  them  ?  The  forgiving 
Saviour  bids  us  to  forgive  and  to  seek  forgiveness. 

7.  It  is  hard  to  do  these  things,  both  to  for- 
give and  to  ask  to  be  forgiven.  Must  we  do  it  ? 
When  a  man  has  broken  up  another's  home,  must 
he  be  forgiven  ?  Is  the  hardest  case  we  can  im- 
agine as  hard  as  the  case  of  Jesus'  murderers  ? 


JESUS    AND    FORGIVENESS  6 1 

He  forgave  them.     Is  it  as  hard  as  our  case? 
God  has  forgiven  us. 

8.  And,  after  all,  the  greatest  joy  is  found  in 
forgiveness  (Rom.  4:7).  There  is  good  cheer 
in  forgiveness  (Matt.  9:2).  And  the  more  we 
feel  that  Jesus  has  forgiven  in  us,  the  warmer 
will  be  our  gratitude  and  love  (Luke  7  :  41-43,  47). 
And  in  forgiving  there  is  joy  and  gladness,  too, 
and  such  a  sense  of  sovereignty,  of  divine  son- 
ship,  as  makes  the  life  great  and  jubilant.  We 
are  never  so  like  God  as  when  we  are  lifted  up 
into  His  nature  and  enabled  to  forgive  one  an- 
other as  God  for  Christ's  sake  has  forgiven  us 
(Eph.  4 :  32).  The  royal  joy  of  opposing  sin  is 
surpassed  by  the  noble  gladness  of  forgiving  the 
sinner. 

9.  As  our  forgiveness  is  never  to  wear  out,  so 
Christ's  never  will.  At  the  very  end  He  wept 
over  Jerusalem,  and  longed  to  have  her  turn  unto 
Him  (Matt.  23:  37,  38;  Luke  19:  41-44).  But 
did  not  what  He  said  at  these  times,  and  His 
parable  of  the  foolish  virgins  (Matt.  25  :  1-13), 
indicate  that  there  could  come  times  when  for- 
giveness would  be  denied  to  men?  No,  not 
that.  The  significance  of  that  parable  and  of 
the  Saviour's  words  over  Jerusalem  is  this  :  If 
men  do  not  repent,  there  will  come  a  time  when 
they  will  not  want  to  repent.  Jesus  did  not 
mean  to  have  His  parable  forced  to  teach  that 
God  will  not  hear  the  cry  of  the  penitent.     It 


52  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

summons  men  to  watchfulness,  and  warns  them 
against  delay.  O,  but  there  is  another  word. 
''And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come;  and 
he  that  heareth,  let  him  say,  Come ;  and  he  that 
is  athirst,  let  him  come ;  he  that  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely." 


XII 

JESUS   AND   ERROR 

Jesus  was  surrounded  with  error, — of  opinion, 
of  feeling,  of  will.  He  met  it  in  friend  and  foe. 
He  Himself  saw  the  full  truth  and  did  the  whole  will 
of  God.     This  could  not  be  said  of  any  other  man. 

1.  Pie  met  intellectual  error.  The  Jews  were 
bound  by  blunders  of  opinion.  They  had  wrong 
conceptions  of  Sabbath-observance  (Matt.  1 2 :  1-5, 
10-12)  ;  of  the  place  of  ritual  in  life  and  religion 
(Matt.  23  :  23-26)  ;  of  the  Old  Testament  (Matt. 
22  :  29)  ;  of  the  Messiah  (Matt.  23  :  35,  39)  ;  of 
many  of  the  duties  and  services  of  human  life 
(Matt.  5  :  38-48). 

2.  He  met  emotional  error.  The  Jew's  concep- 
tion of  the  peculiar  relation  of  his  race  to  God 
and  of  the  inferiority  of  other  races  gave  birth  to 
the  most  wicked  feelings  of  racial  pride  and  of 
depreciation  of  others  (John  4:9;  7:  35).  The 
crucifixion  itself  was  secured  by  the  priests  play- 
ing upon  the  unreasoning  emotions  of  the  crowd 
(Matt.  27  :  20).  In  individuals  also  Jesus  met 
erroneous  emotional  impulses,  as  in  the  woman 
who  thought  it  would  be  fine  to  be  Jesus'  mother, 
but  who  had  not  begun  to  do  the  will  of  God 
(Luke  II  :  27,  28). 

63 


64  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

3.  He  met  error  in  men's  wills,  a  great  deal  of  it. 
That  is  the  seat  of  the  worst  error.  He  con- 
stantly pointed  out  to  the  Jews  that  they  could 
not  receive  Him  on  this  account.  They  did  not 
want  to  learn  (John  5  :  38-43).  They  were  not 
in  sympathy  with  God  or  eager  to  know  the  mind 
of  God  (John  6  :  43-45  ;  8:31,32).  This  moral 
error  was  what  Jesus  so  impressively  warned  the 
people  against  (Luke  11  :  ss~3^)- 

4.  And  error  was  not  confined  to  strangers  or 
enemies.  He  found  it  in  His  friends.  There 
was  a  discouraging  amount  of  it  in  His  disciples. 
They  were  so  slow  to  understand  (Luke  9  :  43-45  ; 
John  II  :  12-15;  14-  9i  ^^  •  i^)*  -^^^^  it  was 
not  error  of  understanding  only.  There  were 
vanity  and  pride  and  selfishness  in  them.  They 
quarrelled  for  first  places  (Luke  9  :  46-48).  And 
they  marred  the  holy  peace  and  fellowship  of 
their  last  night  with  Jesus  before  His  death,  by 
entering  into  controversy  again  on  this  very  sub- 
ject (Luke  22:  24-27).  Some  of  them  at  times 
acted  in  a  way  that  called  for  His  rebuke  (Luke 
9:  51-55).  What  instance  of  this  sort  can  you 
recall  in  the  life  of  Simon  ?  Repeated  mistakes 
were  made  by  the  disciples  after  His  resurrection. 
Enumerate  them. 

What  attitude  did  Jesus  take  towards  error? 
Did  He  always  expose  it  and  denounce  it  ?  Or 
did  He  treat  it  as  of  no  consequence  ? 

I.     He  was  very  patient  and  considerate,  even 


JESUS    AND    ERROR  65 

with  those  who  were  shown  to  be  immovably  set 
in  error.  He  knew  the  heart  of  the  Pharisees 
from  the  beginning  (John  2  :  23-25),  but  it  was 
not  till  the  close  of  His  ministry  that  He  aban- 
doned all  hope  of  persuading  them,  and  de- 
nounced without  reservation  their  malignant 
spirit  (Matt.  23). 

2.  Some  errors  He  never  corrected;  for  ex- 
ample, the  objections  to  His  Messiahship  on  the 
ground  that  He  was  born  in  Galilee,  and  that  He 
was  the  son  of  Joseph  (John  7:  41,  52;  Luke 
4:  22).  Many  other  mistakes  He  did  not  cor- 
rect. It  was  not  part  of  His  purpose.  Some- 
times, however.  He  took  up  a  current  view  and 
criticised  it,  though  it  was  only  incidental  (John 
9  :  2,  3  ;  Luke  13  :  1-5).  Many  main  errors  He 
openly  and  fearlessly  challenged.  Study  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  with  this  in  mind.  He  did 
not  waste  time  in  correcting  inconsequential  mis- 
takes, and  some  great  errors  He  passed  by,  but 
He  attacked  what  lay  in  the  path  of  His  duty. 

3.  He  never  wavered  or  compromised  in  His 
corrections  of  error.  Sometimes  He  spoke  with 
gentle  moderation  (Luke  12  :  13-15)  ;  at  other 
times  with  positive  sharpness  and  denunciation, 
when  the  error  was  rank  with  dishonesty  (Luke 
II :  42-44;   20  :  40,  44-47  ;  John  8:  43,  44). 

4.  When  the  error  was  honest,  no  one  could 
be  more  considerate,  even  though  the  error 
should    not    have    been   entertained.      Thomas 


66  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

doubted  the  resurrection  when  he  should  have 
believed.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  though 
he  declared  his  unbelief  on  this  vital  point,  the 
disciples  held  fast  to  Thomas.  And  Jesus  held 
fast  to  him,  and  came  to  him.  There  was  a  sad 
reproach  in  His  interview  with  Thomas,  and 
Thomas  found  that  he  did  not  need  what  he  said 
he  must  have  in  the  way  of  evidence.  Jesus  re- 
proved him,  but  it  was  a  gentle  reproof  (John 
20  :  24-29). 

5.  A  favorite  method  of  correcting  error  was 
the  revelation  of  larger  truth  which  lifted  the 
mind  and  heart  above  the  doubt  or  mistake. 
This  was  the  course  He  pursued  with  the  woman 
at  Jacob's  well  (John  4:  19-24).  Indeed,  some- 
times Jesus  purposely  refrained  from  correcting 
error  explicitly,  because  the  people  would  not  re- 
ceive or  respond  to  the  higher  truth  (John 
10  :  24-27).  Much  enor  is  simply  a  matter  of 
attitude  and  perspective,  and  Jesus  corrected  it 
by  supplying  these.  A  single  great  friendship, 
for  example,  coming  into  a  life,  sets  right  a  score 
of  difficulties  which  could  scarcely  have  been 
dealt  with  one  by  one.  Jesus  worked  on  this 
principle  (John  8  :  31-59). 

6.  Jesus  never  played  with  error  or  called  it 
immaterial.  The  whole  law  was  inviolate  to  Him 
(Matt.  5:  17,  18).  The  Father,  to  whom  each 
sparrow  and  hair  of  our  heads  is  of  consequence 
(Matt.  10  :  29),  cannot  regard  principles  or  truth, 


jESUS   AND    ERROR  67 

even  though  small  in  dimension,  of  no  account. 
Error  is  error,  wrong  is  wrong,  whether  little  or 
big. 

7.  The  great  error  and  source  of  error  is  sin 
(John  16:8,  9).  Jesus  came  to  correct  sin  by 
destroying  it,  and  with  it  the  error  which  is  its 
child  (Rom.  6:  6 ;  1  John  $:  S).  That  is  our 
mission,  too.  Would  that  we  might  be  as  wise 
about  it  as  Jesus  was  ! 


XIII 

JESUS  AND  UNBELIEF 

The  dominant  form  of  error  which  confronted 
Jesus  was  unbehef  in  Him.  Of  what  did  He  re- 
gard such  unbehef  as  consisting  ?  What  did  He 
think  of  it  ?     What  was  His  view  of  unbehevers  ? 

1.  Belief  with  Jesus  was  an  acceptance  of 
Himself.  He  spoke  of  "believing  on"  Him 
(John  3:  i8,  36;  6:  29,  35,40;  9:  35).  And 
this  was  the  result  of  believing  Him  (John  5  :  46 ; 
14:  11).  Whoever  accepted  His  representations 
as  true  surrendered  his  life  to  Jesus,  put  his  faith 
in  Him  and  on  Him.  Unbehef  was  a  refusal  to 
accept  Jesus'  declarations  (John  5  :  47 ;  8  :  45). 
And  it  was  a  refusal,  naturally,  in  consequence 
thereof,  to  surrender  life  to  Jesus  and  to  identify 
one's  self  with  Him  (John  10  :  26). 

2.  Unbelief  did  not  appear  to  Jesus  as  an  un- 
important or  inoffensive  thing.  It  was  death  and 
present  judgment  (John  3  :  18).  It  sprang  from 
pride  and  the  love  of  the  honor  of  men  (John 
5  :  44),  from  a  profound  want  of  spiritual  under- 
standing of  Christ  and  sympathy  with  Him  (John 
10:  26,  27).  He  regarded  it  as  sin  (John 
16:  9).     He  found  it  an  insuperable  obstacle  in 

68 


JESUS    AND    UNBELIEF  69 

the  way  of  His  work  (Matt.  13:  58);  a  source 
of  weakness  and  inefficiency  (Matt.  17:  20). 
And  He  reproved  it  (Mark  16  :  14). 

3.  In  interpreting  one  of  His  parables  for 
Peter  He  represented  the  unbelieving  or  unfaith- 
ful as  outcasts  (Luke  12:  46).  The  unbeliever 
was  dead  in  Jesus'  view,  because  disobedient  to 
the  call  of  life  (John  3  :  36 ;  6 :  40,  47  ;  11:  25)  ; 
and  had  nothing  to  face  but  a  death  in  his  sins, 
*<for  except  ye  believe  that  I  am,"  said  Jesus, 
"  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins  "  (John  8  :  24). 

4.  The  tragedy  of  Jesus'  life  and  death  was 
the  product  of  raan's  unbelief.  Man  had  talked 
a  great  deal  about  God,  but  he  did  not  really  be- 
lieve in  God.  If  he  had  believed  in  God,  he  would 
have  believed  in  Jesus  also.  The  deity  of  Jesus  is  a 
natural  corollary  of  a  theistic  faith  (John  14  :  i). 
Not  to  believe  in  Jesus  is  an  evidence  of  a  want 
of  a  real  belief  in  God.  The  man  in  whom  the 
full  sympathies  of  God  are  alive  will  recognize  Jesus 
(John  5  :  38).  Likewise  the  Jews  did  not  really 
believe  Moses,  or  they  would  not  have  rejected 
Christ  (John  5  :  46,  47). 

5.  Unbelief  does  not  seem  to  us  to  be  the 
hideous  thing  it  seemed  to  Jesus.  We  tolerate  it 
lighdy,  and  do  not  deem  those  men  dead  and 
condemned  already  who  are  blinded  and  slain  by 
it.  If  we  did,  we  should  seek,  as  Jesus  did,  to 
persuade  them  to  open  their  eyes  and  to  live 
(John  5  :  40). 


70  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

6.  Recognize  the  fact  that  unbelief  in  Jesus' 
view  was  an  expression  of  distrust  in  Him.  He 
did  not  distinguish  between  sympathy  with  His 
principles  and  sympathy  with  Himself  to  the  ex- 
tent of  admitting  that  the  latter  was  unnecessary 
if  the  former  existed.  He  did  say  that  whoever 
was  not  against  Him  was  for  Him  (Luke  9 :  50) ; 
but  He  also  said  that  whoever  was  not  for  Him 
was  against  Him  (Luke  11  :  23).  And  He  in- 
sisted that  whoever  truly  sympathized  with  His 
principles  must  sympathize  with  Himself  (John 
14 :  24).  Men  now  distinguish  between  the  es- 
sential and  the  historic  Christ,  and  are  compla- 
cent towards  denial  of  Christ's  personal  claims  if 
men  but  admire  His  moral  doctrine.  But  Jesus 
was  His  doctrine  (John  14:  6;  12:  26,  32; 
11:  25;  5  :  40;  6:  53-57).  He  drove  the  Jews 
to  extremes  in  pressing  this  on  them.  They 
thought  they  believed  in  His  truth.  He  showed 
them  that  they  did  not  unless  they  believed  in 
Him  (John  8  :  31-42  ;   14 :  6,  7). 

7.  Shall  we  then  refuse  to  associate  with  un- 
believers ?  And  how  then  could  they  be  taught 
to  believe?  Jesus  did  not  separate  Himself. 
He  went  to  the  sick  (Mark  2  :  17),  and  to  the 
lost  (Luke  19  :  10);  and  His  disciples  are  to  be 
salt  (Matt.  5  :  13),  and  light  (Matt.  5:  14,  16; 
6  :  23),  for  salvation  and  for  guidance.  Yet  they 
were  not  to  obliterate  distinctions  that  are  real. 
Love  and  sympathy  with  Jesus  never  led  Him  to 


JESUS    AND    UNBELIEF  7I 

betray  truth  or  play  with  prmciple.  And  in  the 
early  Church  Paul  forbade  trifling  with  the  solemn 
associations  of  life.  Believers  were  to  settle  their 
difficulties  among  themselves  (i  Cor.  6:6). 
They  were  not  to  marry  or  coalesce  with  un- 
believers {2  Cor.  6  :  14,  15).  They  were  to  be  a 
people  of  distinct  characteristics,  a  new  creation. 
Christ  made  them  so.  If  they  were  merely  like 
others,  then  Christ  had  not  done  His  work  in 
them.  If  we  feel  not  quite  comfortable  or  at 
home  among  those  who  do  not  believe,  that  is 
just  as  we  should  feel.  So  Christ  felt  till  men 
came  to  God  in  Him.  We  shall  be  at  home  with 
them  if  we  bring  them  home  to  Him. 


XIV 

JESUS   AND    FRIENDSHIP 

Did  Jesus  regard  unbelievers  as  His  enemies? 
Yes.  Unbelief  was  a  radical  hostility  to  Him. 
Did  He  regard  Himself  as  the  enemy  of  unbe- 
lievers ?  No.  It  was  for  them  that  He  accepted 
the  Hmitations  and  sacrifices  of  the  incarnation 
(Luke  19:  10;  Mark  10:  45).  In  every  way 
He  showed  His  love  of  men,  even  though  they 
wronged  and  rejected  Him.  But  did  He  love  all 
men  as  His  friends,  or  did  He  have  a  general 
love  for  all  mankind  and  a  special  friendship  love 
for  a  few? 

Jesus  assuredly  had  His  own  friends,  men  who 
responded  to  His  love,  who  received  Him,  and  to 
whom  accordingly  He  could  speak  as  sons  of 
God  (John  i  :  12),  and  His  brothers  and  com- 
panions (John  13:  I,  23;  Luke  22:  28).  JBut 
the  love  which  He  lavished  on  all  men  was  richer 
than  the  love  which  we  spend  on  most  of  our 
friendships.  He  loved  where  no  love  summoned 
Him  (Rom.  5  :  7,  8).  He  gave  Himself  where 
men  refused  Him  (Matt.  23  :  37).  He  died  for 
His  foes  (Rom.  5  :  10;  John  11  :  49,  50).  We 
may  be  sure  His  ideals  of  friendship  must  have 
been  correspondingly  high. 
.72 


JESUS    AND    FRIENDSHIP  73 

1.  The  same  unselfishness  that  ruled  Him 
elsewhere  (Luke  6  :  27-35),  ruled  His  friendships. 
He  used  His  friendships  as  opportunities  to  give, 
not  to  get.  Once  when  He  sought  help  from  His 
friends  they  failed  Him.  When  was  this  ?  His 
relation  to  them  was  one  of  constant  outflow  of 
sympathy  and  helpfulness  towards  them.  He 
was  ready  to  give  up  Himself  for  their  protection 
(John  18  :  8,  9).  He  willingly  incurred  grave 
personal  danger  for  His  friend  Lazarus  (John  1 1  : 
2,  8).  In  His  great  prayer  He  made  but  one  re- 
quest for  Himself  (John  17:  i,  5).  His  chief 
thought  was  for  His  friends.  What  requests  did 
He  make  for  them  ?  And  in  the  agony  of  His 
death  His  thoughts  were  of  others,  His  persecu- 
tors (Luke  23  :  34),  His  fellow  sufferers  (Luke 
23  '•  43)}  and  His  mother  (John  19  :  26,  27). 

"  O  self-denying  love  that  thought  alone 
For  needs  of  others,  never  for  its  own !  " 

2.  Jesus  was  born  among  the  lowly ;  yet  from 
the  beginning  men  recognized  His  dignity  and 
majesty  (Luke  4:  22;  Mark  i:  27,  28).  He  was 
free  to  choose  His  friends.  Whom  did  He 
choose, — the  mighty  and  the  great?  That  was 
what  he  warned  His  disciples  against  (Luke 
14:  13).  The  good  and  noble?  They  had  no 
need,  He  said  (Matt.  9:  11,  12).  He  chose 
without  hesitation  from  the  friendless.  We  do 
not  do  this  unless  we  act  in  His  spirit.     We  want 


74  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

for  our  friends  those  of  the  same  social  grade  and 
tastes  with  us.  Cities  and  small  towns  have  their 
social  chasms,  and  low  snobbery  and  high  sel- 
fishness make  us  slaves.  Jesus  was  free.  He 
loved  the  lowly  and  unlovely  (Matt,  ii :  19). 

3.  The  love  of  the  Eternal  is  an  eternal  love, 
and  all  true  love  is  of  the  Eternal  and  is  eternal 
(i  John  4:  7-21).  Jesus'  friendships  did  not 
break.  Men  speak  of  broken  friendships.  Jesus 
never  did.     He  knew  that 

**  Love  is  not  love 
Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds, 
Or  tends  with  the  remover  to  remove. 
O  no !     It  is  an  ever  fixed  mark 
That  looks  on  tempests  and  is  never  shaken." 

If  Jesus'  friendships  had  been  commercial  affairs, 
it  would  have  been  different.  But  He  loved  for 
the  loved  one's  sake,  not  for  His  own.  And  even 
traitors  and  deniers  He  still  called  His  friends 
(Matt.  26:  47-50;  Mark  16:  7).  Do  we  do 
this? 

4.  Because  Jesus  sought  in  His  friendships 
the  good  of  His  friends  and  no  gain  or  advantage 
for  Himself,  He  was  fearless  in  dealing  with  those 
He  loved  (Mark  10:  17-22;  Luke  22:  31-34). 
The  great  Friend  who  was  love  was  also  truth. 

5.  Could  anybody  who  wished  be  a  friend  of 
Jesus  ?  Is  there  a  single  instance  of  His  having 
met  any  one  with  a  rebuff?     He  pleaded  with 


JESUS    AND    FRIENDSHIP  75 

people  to  come  to  Him  (Matt,  ii  :  28;  23  ;  37  ; 
John  5  :  40).  He  rebuked  the  disciples  for  dis- 
couraging the  little  children  (Mark  10  :  14).  He 
told  a  parable  the  lesson  of  which  was  that  He 
would  compel  men  to  come  in  if  He  could  (Luke 
14:  23).  Yes,  there  was  a  wideness  in  His 
friendship  ''like  the  wideness  of  the  sea." 

Blessed  are  they  who  in  the  school  of  the  di- 
vine friendship  have  learned  how  to  love,  and 
blessed  are  they  whom  they  love  ! 


XV 

JESUS   AND   MARRIAGE 

Knowing  what  friendship  was  and  believing  in 
it,  Jesus  held  high  views  of  that  human  relation- 
ship which  is  its  most  perfect  expression.  And 
these  views  He  expressed  without  reservation. 
This  is  worthy  of  note,  for,  as  Professor  Peabody 
points  out,  "this  is  the  only  aspect  of  social  life 
concerning  which  Jesus  descends  from  the  an- 
nouncing of  general  principles  to  the  further  duty 
of  prescribing  specific  legislation."  In  the  mat- 
ter of  the  political  problems  of  the  day  Jesus 
dealt  in  general  principles.  He  was  not  afraid 
(Luke  13:  32),  but  "it  was  Christ's  fixed  resolu- 
tion," says  Professor  Seeley,  "to  enter  into  no 
contest  with  the  civil  power."  Accordingly  He 
refused  to  speak  in  great  detail  of  civil  duties. 
But  on  the  question  of  the  marriage  relation  Jesus 
spoke  fearlessly  and  unqualifiedly.  He  wel- 
comed the  questions  of  Pharisees  (Matt.  19:  3) 
and  Sadducees  (Matt.  22  :  23)  on  the  subject,  and 
answered  them  "  with  such  force  and  clearness 
that  '  when  the  multitudes  heard  it,  they  were  as- 
tonished at  His  teaching '  "  (Matt.  22  :  ^^). 

I.  Jesus  did  not  teach  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
76 


JESUS    AND    MARRIAGE  77 

all  to  marry.  He  Himself  never  did  so.  Some 
men  were  not  intended  to  marry,  He  taught, 
^'  physical  reasons  of  temperament  or  of  heredity  " 
fitly  prohibiting  it.  In  other  cases  men  may  be 
called  to  sacrifice  the  privilege  of  the  married  life 
for  the  sake  of  service  which  will  not  permit  it 
(Matt.  19;  12).  Was  not  this  the  case  with 
Paul? 

2.  But,  when  men  did  marry,  Jesus  taught 
that  they  entered  into  a  real  union  of  Hfe.  "  For 
this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother, 
and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife,  and  the  twain  shall 
become  one  flesh.  So  that  they  are  no  more 
twain,  but  one  flesh"  (Matt.  19:  5,  6).  The 
word  "flesh,  in  Hebrew  thought,"  says  Professor 
Bruce,  "represents  the  entire  man,  and  the  ideal 
unity  of  marriage  covers  the  whole  nature.  It  is 
a  unity  of  soul  as  well  as  of  body  ;  of  sympathy, 
interest,  purpose."  Most  assuredly  it  is  this  or  it 
is  mere  bestiality.  In  a  true  union  the  natures 
merge  and  interpenetrate. 

"  As  saffron  tingeth  flesh,  blood,  bones,  and  all." 

What  the  Christian  view  is  may  be  seen  in  Eph. 
5  •  25-33.  P^^l  admits  that  the  mystery  is  great, 
but  it  is  glorious. 

3.  This  union  was  in  its  principle  and  pos- 
sibility so  vital  that  Jesus  said  it  could  not  be 
broken.     "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife, 


78  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

and  marry  another,  committeth  adultery  against 
her"  (Mark  10:  11).  That  is  Christ's  absolute 
prohibition  of  divorce.  He  had  taken  up  this 
subject  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  declaring 
this  same  doctrine  with  one  qualification  (Matt. 
5:  22).  Men  may  not  like  this  doctrine;  they 
may  call  it  terrible ;  civil  laws  may  allow  divorce 
for  many  causes  ;  but  this  is  Jesus'  view.  He  re- 
garded marriage  as  an  indissoluble  union. 

4.  Jesus'  doctrine  of  marriage  obliterates  every 
pretext  for  polygamy.  One  husband  belongs  to 
one  wife.  Even  a  look  or  longing  cast  on  another 
woman  by  a  man  Jesus  denounced  as  adultery 
committed  already  in  his  heart  (Matt.  5  :  27-30). 
A  son  could  as  well  have  two  mothers  as  a  hus- 
band two  wives  in  Jesus'  view.  The  relationship 
is  of  the  same  vital,  organic  kind  (Matt.  19: 
4-8).  The  arguments  by  which  some  scholars 
have  attempted  to  prove  the  toleration  of  polyg- 
amy in  the  early  Church  have  annulled  themselves 
by  proving  on  the  same  principles  of  interpre- 
tation the  existence  of  polyandry. 

5.  Jesus'  view  of  marriage  contemplated  it, 
not  as  an  indulgence,  but  as  a  discipline.  There 
are  some  people  who  rebel  at  this,  and  will  not 
attempt  to  learn  its  lessons  of  considerateness  and 
forgiveness  so  long  as  "it  is  easier  to  be  divorced 
than  to  be  good."  But  love  in  marriage  and  out 
of  it  is  an  exercise,  not  of  caprice,  but  of  the  will. 

6.  We  cannot  believe  that  Jesus'  doctrine  ot 


JESUS    AND    MARRIAGE  79 

marriage  limited  it  to  the  physical  life.  Such 
union  of  soul  as  well  as  body  must  survive  the 
death  of  the  body.  Jesus'  words  in  Matt.  22  :  30 
and  Luke  20  :  34-36  do  not  imply  "  the  abolition 
of  all  the  higher  spiritual  qualities  "  of  a  union  of 
life  here.  If  character  is  eternal,  this  living 
coalescing  of  character  must  be  also.  We  have  a 
right  to  prefer  Browning's  interpretation  of  Jesus' 
words : 

««  Marriage  on  earth  seems  such  a  counterfeit, 
Mere  imitation  of  the  inimitable  ; 
In  heaven  we  have  the  real  and  true  and  sure ; 
'Tis  there  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given 
In  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels ;  right, 
O  how  right  that  is,  how  like  Jesus  Christ 
To  say  that !     Marriage  making  for  the  earth, 
With  gold  so  much, — birth,  power,  repute  so  much, 
Or  beauty,  youth  so  much,  in  lack  of  these  ! 
Be  as  the  angels,  rather,  who,  apart. 
Know  themselves  into  one,  are  found  at  length 
Married,  but  marry  never,  no,  nor  give 
In  marriage  ;  they  are  man  and  wife  at  once 
When  the  true  time  is ;  here  we  have  to  wait. 
Not  so  long,  neither !  " 


XVI 

JESUS   AND   THE   FAMILY 

Jesus'  view  of  marriage  was  of  course  vitally 
related  to  His  view  of  the  family.  He  was  a 
member  of  a  race  in  which  the  family  had  been  a 
great  institution,  and  Jesus  made  a  yet  nobler 
place  for  it  in  His  Church.  ''  His  entire  theology 
may  be  described  as  a  transfiguration  of  the 
family.  God  is  a  Father,  man  is  His  child ;  and 
from  the  Father  to  the  child  there  is  conveyed  the 
precious  message  of  paternal  love." 

I.  Here,  then,  in  what  Jesus  showed  of  the 
Father's  heart  in  God,  and  in  the  loving  home 
life  He  revealed  in  the  Godhead  is  a  great  sanction 
of  the  family  life.  He  ever  spoke  to  God  and  of 
God  as  Father  in  a  real  fihal  way  (John  2:16; 
5:  17;  10:  15,  17;  11:  41;  12:  27,  28).  He 
gave  His  disciples  glimpses  of  the  intimacy  of 
their  relationship  as  Father  and  Son  (John  5  :  35  ; 
5  :  20,  26 ;  6  :  57  ;  8  :  28,  38  ;  17  :  5).  Like  a 
human  child  He  said  He  followed  His  Father's 
ways  as  He  had  seen  them  (John  5  :  19).  He 
spoke  to  them  of  heaven  as  His  Father's  house 
(John  14 :  2).  Every  family  in  heaven  and  earth 
takes  name  and  beauty  from  His  divine  fatherhood 
(Eph.  3:  IS). 


JESUS    AND    THE    FAMILY  8 1 

2.  Jesus  was  constantly  lending  the  support 
of  His  favor  to  family  love  (Luke  9  :  42),  and  the 
social  life  of  men.  He  went  with  His  disciples  to 
a  wedding  (John  2:  i-ii).  He  responded  to 
appeals  based  on  paternal  love  (John  4 :  49),  on 
motherly  anxiety  (Luke  7  :  11-15).  He  took 
thought  for  the  feelings  of  parents  always  (Luke 
8  :  51).  He  represented  the  first  impulse  of  the 
prodigal  when  he  came  to  himself  as  a  longing 
for  home,  "I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father," 
and  He  drew  a  picture  of  the  eager,  forgiving  love 
of  the  father's  heart  (Luke  15  :  18).  Though 
homeless  Himself  for  much  of  His  public  life 
(Luke  9 :  58),  He  never  depreciated  the  im- 
portance or  propriety  of  home  life,  and  He  found 
rest  during  the  last  week  in  the  family  circle  at 
Bethany,  while  with  almost  His  last  breath  on  the 
cross  He  made  provision  for  His  mother,  "  And 
that  disciple  took  her  unto  his  own  home ' '  (John 
19:  27;  20:  10).  He  believed  in  homes,  though 
He  was  a  homeless  man  (Mark  5  :  19).  He  said 
that  the  shepherd  went  out  for  his  sheep  and 
brought  it  home^  where  he  called  in  his  neighbors 
to  rejoice  (Luke  15  :  6).  In  all  these  ways  Jesus 
showed  His  approval  of  our  home  life,  and,  as 
Dr.  R.  E.  Thompson  says,  "His  elevation  of 
patience  and  forgiveness  to  the  rank  of  primary 
virtues  in  the  kingdom  gave  a  new  law  of  life  to 
the  Christian  household." 

3.  Though  Jesus*  work  later  led  Him  out  to 


82  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

be  a  wanderer,  He  grew  up  in  a  Jewish  home, 
one  of  the  best  types  of  the  homes  of  the  godly 
poor.  He  was  indeed  taunted  with  the  poverty 
of  His  home  and  the  lowHness  of  His  surround- 
ings (Matt.  13:55;  John  7  ;  48-52  ;  i  :  46).     He 

'  never  said  a  word  in  recognition  of  such  sneers. 
They  were  beneath  contempt.  And,  though  Jo- 
seph was  not  His  father,  there  is  no  evidence  that 
He  ever  said  so  or  tried  to  escape  from  the  rela- 
tions in  which  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  His  life 
had  been  set.  In  the  home  He  was  all  that  a 
child  should  be  (Luke  2  :  40,  51,  52).     But  His 

j  conduct  there  showed  that  there  are  two  limits  to 

j  a  son's  obedience.  Jesus  set  His  Father's  busi- 
ness above  His  parents'  authority  (Luke  2  :  48,  49), 
and  His  duty  to  God  above  His  responsibility  to 

jjHis  mother  (Mark  3  :  20,  21,  31-35). 

It  must  have  been  terrible  to  Jesus  to  think  of 
this,  and  it  is  significant  that  He  chose  the  rup- 
ture of  family  relationships  as  the  most  dreadful 
illustration  of  what  havoc  would  be  wrought  by 
men's  refusal  to  receive  Him  and  in  Him  the 
solidifying  and  ennobling  of  all  true  human  rela- 
tionships (Matt.  10:  36). 

4.  Love  in  the  home  was  necessary  to  love 
out  of  the  home.  John  presses  this  truth  re- 
morselessly in  his  Epistle  (i  John  2:9;  3:  14; 
4:  20,  21).  How  full  Jesus'  teaching  is  of  ap- 
peals to  love  and  perfect  confidence  in  the  family  ! 
(Matt.  5  :  22,  24  j  7  :  3-5  ;  18  :  15,  21,  35  ;  Luke 


JESUS    AND    THE    FAMILY  83 

12:13;  17  •  3)-  '*  It  is  useless,"  says  the  author 
of  Ecce  Homo  J  "to  tell  a  man  to  love  all  man- 
kind if  he  never  loved  any  individual  of  mankind, 
and  only  knows  by  report  what  love  is.  It  should 
be  recognized  that  family  affection  in  some  form 
is  the  almost  indispensable  root  of  Christianity." 

5.  Jesus  had  His  own  family  sorrow  (John 
7  :  5).  But  it  turned  in  the  end  to  a  joy  (i  Cor. 
9:5).  And  what  He  and  His  brethren  lost  for  a 
little  while  was  our  gain.  It  brought  forth  the 
assurance  of  a  new  and  blessed  family  relation- 
ship in  which  each  of  us  may  be  to  Christ  what 
His  own  family  failed  to  be  to  Him  (Mark  3  :  35). 


XVII 

JESUS    AND    WOMAN 

In  interpreting  the  gospel  to  the  world  Paul 
said  that  in  it  there  was  neither  male  nor  female. 
Privilege  was  common,  and  no  line  of  distinction 
separated  the  sexes  as  participants  in  the  grace  of 
God.  And  Paul  correctly  interpreted  Christ  in 
this.  He  never  suggested  or  recognized  any  in- 
feriority of  woman.  He  constantly  assumed  her 
equality. 

I.  He  treated  women  as  He  treated  men. 
He  talked  with  them  (John  4:27;  Luke  10  :  38). 
Not  to  speak  of  the  position  of  woman  elsewhere, 
among  the  Jews  talking  with  a  woman  was  con- 
trary to  the  custom  of  the  doctors.  They  de- 
clared that  it  was  "better  that  the  words  of  the 
law  should  be  burned  than  delivered  to  women." 
But  Jesus  made  them  His  friends  (Luke  10 :  38 ; 
John  11:  5).  He  answered  their  questions  (John 
4:  9-1 1),  and  exclamations  (Luke  11  :  27),  and 
sympathy  (Luke  23  :  28).  "  He  gave  scope  for 
woman's  powers  in  His  every  command."  He 
healed  women  (Luke  8:2);  He  praised  their 
faith  (Matt.  15:  28);  and  He  included  them  in 
the  beneficence  of  His  loving  thought  and  pro- 
vision (Matt.  15  :  38). 

84 


JESUS    AND    WOMAN  85 

2.  The  teaching  of  Jesus,  as  Paul  said,  was 
so  broadly  and  really  human  that  divisions  of  sex 
disappear  in  it  (Gal.  3  :  28).  Jesus  simply  taught 
the  truth  to  human  hearts,  and  it  vindicated  itself 
as  the  truth  in  revealing  the  unity  of  our  hearts. 
*'  Christ  raised  woman  to  her  rightful  place  as 
man's  equal,  not  by  decreeing  that  her  subjection 
should  cease,  but  by  declaring  God  to  men  in  His 
true  character,  and  by  making  our  relation  to  God 
one  of  affection  as  well  as  of  love.  .  .  .  He 
presented  the  gospel  as  at  once  so  masculine  in  its 
strength  and  so  feminine  in  its  tenderness  that  the 
equality  of  the  two  sexes  in  the  highest  matters 
must  be  recognized  at  once,  and  woman's  worth 
in  all  lesser  would  obtain  recognition  sooner  or 
later. "  Pick  out  at  random  any  ten  commands  of 
Christ,  and  see  whether  they  do  not  apply  equally 
to  men  and  women,  and  assume  their  equality. 

3.  Jesus  was  most  tender  and  kind  to  women. 
He  constantly  helped  them  in  need  (Luke  13  :  11). 
He  invariably  spoke  generously  of  them,  and 
never  used  a  woman  as  illustrative  of  other  than 
noble  qualities  (Luke  18  :  1-8).  How  often  did 
He  use  men  as  illustrative  of  qualities  that  were 
not  noble  ?  He  commended  a  woman's  loving 
service  of  God  (Luke  21:1-4);  praised  one 
woman's  lavish  display  of  affection  (Mark  14 :  3)  ; 
and  another's  simple-hearted  trust  and  kindness 
(Luke  7 :  37-50) ;  and  lifted  another's  thought 
above  her  household  cares  (John  11  :  21-27). 


86  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

4.  Women  answered  Jesus'  noble  treatment 
of  them  (Mark  14:  3;  Luke  7  :  36-50).  They 
followed  Him  (Luke  23  :  49).  They  ministered 
to  Him  of  their  substance  (Luke  8 :  2,  3).  No 
woman  said  unkind  words  about  Him ;  none  be- 
trayed or  denied  Him  (Luke  11:  27;  23:  27). 
They  stood  last  at  His  cross  (John  19  :  25 ;  Luke 
23  :  49).  They  came  first  to  His  sepulchre  (Luke 
23  :  55  ;  24  :  i),  and  they  were  the  first  witnesses 
of  the  resurrection  (John  20  :  1-17),  and  His  first 
heralds  (John  20:18;  Luke  24:10).  "The 
only  bad  women  of  the  gospel  story,"  says  Dr. 
R.  E.  Thompson,  "a.ve  the  two  who  never  came 
within  the  touch  of  His  influence,  Herodias  and 
her  daughter."  Make  a  list  of  all  the  women  of 
the  Gospels,  and  think  of  their  relation  to  Jesus. 

5.  Jesus  did  not  regard  woman  as  under  a 
different  code  of  morals  from  man.  Sin  that  men 
pardon  in  a  man  and  condemn  in  a  woman,  Jesus 
condemned  in  man  and  woman.  He  dealt  with 
sinful  women.  He  never  dealt  with  them  in  der- 
ogation of  the  highest  moral  standards.  He  for- 
gave sin,  but  He  did  not  condone  it.  His  call 
for  purity  bound  all  to  holiness  (John  8 :  i-ii). 

6.  The  teaching  and  example  of  Jesus  were  as 
far  removed  from  a  weak  indulgence  as  from  a 
hard  tyranny  in  this  matter.  He  did  not  recog- 
nize that  woman  as  woman  has  a  right  to  be  silly 
and  selfish,  any  more  than  He  recognized  that 
man  as  man  has  a  right  to  be  domineering  and 


JESUS    AND    WOMAN  87 

superior.  The  ideal  of  the  Beatitudes  fits  both, 
and  both  are  under  the  law  of  service  as  disciples 
of  Him  who  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister  (Mark  lo  :  45). 


XVIII 

JESUS    AND   CHILDREN 

Jesus  had  been  a  child.  He  is  the  only- 
founder  of  a  religion  whose  religion  concerns  it- 
self with  its  founder's  childhood.  So  far  as  we 
know,  He  Himself  never  referred  to  His  birth 
and  boyhood,  though  two  of  the  Gospels  preserve 
the  story  of  it  (Matt.  1,2;  Luke  1,2).  But  He 
was  a  child  all  His  days,  and  His  religion  is  the 
exaltation  of  the  spirit  of  the  child. 

1.  How  much  He  thought  of  children  is  in- 
dicated in  this  very  fact.  Men  must  return  to 
their  childhood  to  become  members  of  His  king- 
dom (Matt.  18:  3;  Mark  10:  15).  The  spirit 
of  His  kingdom  was  the  spirit  of  the  child  (Matt. 
18:4). 

2.  He  dearly  loved  little  children,  and  they 
drew  near  to  Him  with  instinctive  confidence. 
And  their  mothers  trustfully  brought  them  to  Him 
(Matt.  18:  2;  19:  13).  When  His  disciples 
discouraged  this,  He  rebuked  them  (Mark.  10 : 
13,  14).  Men  appealed  to  Him  without  fear  for  their 
children  (Mark  5  :  23),  and  mothers  knew  His 
rebuffs  were  meant  to  be  borne  down  when  they 
pleaded  for  children  they  loved  (Mark  7  :  24-30). 

3.  He   constantly   thought   of  the   children. 

88 


JESUS    AND    CHILDREN  89 

He  knew  the  father  love  that  could  not  withhold 
good  gifts  from  the  child  (Matt.  7  :  11).  One  of 
the  horrors  of  the  cruelty  of  unbelief  would  be 
this,  He  said,  that  it  would  lead  the  father  to  de- 
liver up  his  child  to  death,  and  children  to  rise  up 
against  parents  and  put  them  to  death  (Matt. 
10:21;  Mark  13  :  12).  One  of  the  supremest 
tests  of  faith  would  be  the  willingness  to  put  Christ 
above  child  (Matt.  19:  29).  And  one  of  its 
supreme  rewards  would  be  a  joyous  increase  of 
children's  love  and  gladness  (Mark  10  :  30).  Chil- 
dren came  into  His  parables  (Luke  7:32;  11:7). 
And,  when  the  Jews  accepted  the  responsibility 
of  His  blood  for  themselves  and  for  their  children 
(Matt.  27  :  25),  Jesus  answered  them  by  bidding 
those  who  wept  for  Him  to  weep  rather  for  them- 
selves and  for  their  children  (Luke  23  :  28).  The 
awfulness  of  the  day  of  judgment  fast  coming 
down  on  Jerusalem  would  lie  in  the  dreadful  suf- 
fering it  would  bring  on  the  little  child  and  those 
who  loved  Him  (Luke  23  :  29  ;   19  :  44). 

4.  In  His  doctrine  of  His  kingdom  He  iden- 
tified Himself  with  little  children.  He  met  a 
dispute  for  preeminence  among  His  disciples  by 
taking  a  little  child  in  His  arms,  and  saying, 
*'  Whosoever  shall  receive  one  of  such  little  chil- 
dren in  My  name  receiveth  me  "  (Mark  9  :  33-37  ; 
Matt.  18:5).  An  offense  against  a  *'  little  one," 
child  or  disciple,  was  intolerable  (Matt.  18:6, 
10,  14;  Luke  17  :  2). 


90  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

5.  He  regarded  His  disciples  as  children 
(Matt.  18  ;  1-14).  He  had  the  sweet  faculty  of 
merging  companionship  into  the  noble  and  simple 
confidence  of  children's  friendship.  He  ad- 
dressed His  disciples  as  ''children"  (Mark 
10:  24),  and  "little  flock"  (Luke  12:  32),  and 
"boys"  (John  21 :  5).  And  He  longed  to  make 
Jerusalem's  children  His  own,  and  shelter  them 
cozily  as  a  hen  gathers  her  little  ones  under  her 
wings  (Matt.  23  :  37  ;  Luke  13  :  34).  On  His 
last  evening  with  His  disciples,  before  His  be- 
trayal, after  Judas  had  gone  out,  and  when  the 
time  for  the  final  words  of  tender  counsel  and 
love  had  come.  He  began,  "Little  children,"  a 
word  so  tender  that  it  occurs  elsewhere  in  the 
New  Testament  only  in  one  of  the  most  entreating 
and  passionate  appeals  of  Paul  (Gal.  4:  19),  and 
in  the  First  Epistle  of  John,  where  it  seems  like 
an  echo  of  the  last  evening  when  the  Lord's  lips 
spoke,  "My  dear  little  children"  (i  John  2:1, 
12,  28  ;  3  :  7,  18 ;  4 :  4;  5  :  21).  On  this  same 
evening  He  told  them  that  He  could  not  go  and 
ieave  them  orphans.  He  would  come  back  to 
them  (John  14:  18). 

6.  There  has  always  been,  and  will  always  be, 
under  heathen  religions  real  parental  love,  but 
only  Christianity  makes  a  place  for  the  child,  and 
that  place  the  chief  place.  Jesus,  as  Dr.  Stalker 
says,  "lifted  childhood  up,  and  set  it  in  the 
midst.     If  the  patter  of  little  feet  on  the  stairs 


JESUS    AND    CHILDREN  9 1 

and  the  sound  of  little  voices  in  the  house  are 
music  to  us,  and,  if  the  pressure  of  little  fingers 
and  the  touches  of  little  lips  can  make  us  thrill 
with  gratitude  and  prayer,  we  owe  this  sunshine 
of  life  to  Jesus  Christ." 

7.  But,  if  we  owe  this  to  Christ,  we  owe  Him 
something  more.  We  do  Him  wrong  when  we 
hurt  a  little  child.  We  deny  Him  love  when  we 
are  cold  to  a  little  child.  The  Saviour  who  was 
here  and  went  away  is  here  now  in  each  one  of 
His  litde  folk,  and  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink 
unto  one  of  these  little  ones  a  cup  of  cold  water 
only,  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  shall  not  lose  his 
reward,  and  his  reward  will  be  the  smile  of  God's 
"holy  child  Jesus"  (Matt.  lo :  42;  Acts  4: 
27,  30,  A.  v.). 


XIX 

JESUS   AND   PRIVATE   PROPERTY 

Did  Jesus  believe  that  it  was  wrong  to  own 
anything  ?  The  radical  social  and  economic  re- 
formers of  our  day  deny  the  right  of  private 
ownership.  They  deny  it  in  land,  in  property, 
even  in  the  family  life.  And  some  of  them  ap- 
peal to  the  teaching  and  example  of  Jesus  for 
their  justification.  "  When  Jesus  says,  '  Lay  not 
up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,'  "  declares 
Naumann,  "  He  shows  Himself  on  ethical  grounds 
a  radical  opponent  of  all  accumulation  of  wealth." 
Is  this  true  ?  Are  all  the  people  who  have  laid  up 
a  little  in  savings-banks,  and  all  the  farmers  who 
own  their  own  farms,  and,  even  more,  all  the 
capitalists,  doing  what  Jesus  condemned  ? 

I .  Jesus  nowhere  condemned  private  property. 
When  He  said,  '*Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treas- 
ures upon  the  earth"  (Matt.  6:  19),  He  did  not 
do  so,  nor  did  He  when  He  said  to  the  young 
ruler,  "Sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  distribute  unto 
the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven ; 
and  come,  follow  Me"  (Luke  18  :  22).  In  each 
of  these  cases  He  was  appealing  to  men  to  forego 
doing  what  He  did  not  deny  they  had  the  right 
92 


JESUS    AND    PRIVATE    PROPERTY  93 

to  do.     He  was  pressing  a  moral  choice  on  the 
personal  will,  not  establishing  an  economic  law. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  He  repeatedly  recog- 
nized the  rights  of  private  property.  How  could 
the  young  ruler  be  advised  to  sell  what  modern 
extremists  deny  that  he  rightly  owned?  When 
Jesus  enjoined  charity,  it  was  in  terms  that  recog- 
nized property  rights.  ^'Sell  that  ye  have,  and 
give  alms"  (Luke  12  :  ^;^).  He  commands  giv- 
ing (Matt.  5  :  42 ;  Luke  6 :  30).  But  how  can 
we  give  what  is  not  ours  ?  The  disciples  owned 
boats  and  nets,  and  returned  to  them  after  Jesus' 
death  (John  21  :  3ff.)-  Peter  owned  a  house,  and 
entertained  Jesus  in  it  (Matt.  8  :  14).  Zacchseus 
welcomed  the  Saviour  to  his  home,  and  received 
no  rebuke  from  Jesus  for  offering  merely  to  restore 
all  that  he  had  unjustly  taken,  instead  of  giving 
all  away  (Luke  19  :  2-9).  Others  who  had  prop- 
erty were  loved  and  praised  by  Jesus,  and  no 
word  of  censure  escaped  Him  (Matt.  8:  10; 
Luke  8:3;  John  12  :  1-5).  And  many  of  Jesus' 
parables  deal  with  the  uses  of  money  without  in- 
dicating a  single  reproof  of  its  possession  (Matt. 
25:  14-30;  Luke  19:  13-27;  16:  1-13;  12: 
16-21).  Study  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul  the  constant 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  private  ownership 
(2  Cor.  9:7;!  Tim.  6:  18;  i  Cor.  13:  3; 
Phil.  4:  18;  I  Cor.  16:  1-4;  2  Cor.  8,  9);  and 
both  in  the  Acts  and  in  the  Epistles  the  evidence  of 
the  presence  in  the  Church  of  many  who  had  pos* 


94  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

sessions  (Acts  8:  27;  13:  7;  17:  34;  18:  8; 
16:  14,  40;  12:  12;  Rom.  16:  23).  The  early- 
Church  did  not  require  communism  (Acts  5  :  4). 

3.  Jesus  both  recognized  the  right  of  private 
ownership  and  gave  directions  for  the  exercise  of 
the  right.  What  we  have  is  to  be  used  for  the 
poor  (Luke  18:  22),  and  with  genuine  lowliness 
(Matt.  6:  ^).  But  it  may  be  used  also  to  give 
expression  to  the  excesses  of  love  in  our  hearts 
(Matt.  26:  6-13).  The  justification  of  our 
Christmas  giving  is  in  this  story.  Since  Jesus' 
day  a  thousand  ways  have  been  opened  by  the 
very  working  of  His  Spirit  in  the  world  for  the 
right  use  of  possessions,  for  human  good. 

4.  Some  people  have  been  perplexed  because 
Jesus  seems  to  condemn  possessions,  while  at  the 
same  time  recognizing  them.  They  feel  the 
teaching  we  have  just  considered,  but  they  hear 
Jesus  saying,  "  Whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  re- 
nounceth  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  My 
disciple"  (Luke  14:  33;  Matt.  19:  29;  Luke 
5  :  11).  But  only  by  renouncing  all  can  we  hold 
towards  all  that  attitude  of  full  superiority  which  is 
essential  to  our  use  of  our  possessions  after  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  We  give  up  all,  and  we  then 
are  where  we  can  be  trusted  to  keep  all  and  use  it 
for  men  and  Jesus.  We  escape  the  peril  of  pos- 
sessions by  renouncing  them.  Whereupon  Jesus 
commits  them  to  us  as  trusts  to  be  administered 
for  Him.     We  have  what  we  have,  not  as  prop- 


JESUS    AND    PRIVATE    PROPERTY  95 

erty  of  our  own,  but  as  property  of  His  to  be 
guarded  and  used  as  His  and  not  ours  (Matt. 
24:  45>  50  J  25:  14-30;  Luke  16:  i-S;  12:  42). 
5.  Property  and  person  are  on  the  same  basis. 
I  am  my  own,  yet  I  am  not  my  own  (i  Cor. 
6:  19). 

"  Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  Thine." 

My  property  is  mine,  yet  it  is  not  mine.  I  am 
steward  and  trustee  of  Christ,  and  to  Him  must 
give  account  (i  Cor.  4:  i,  2;  Luke  16:  2,  11; 
Rom.  14:  12;  Luke  19:  11-27). 


XX 

JESUS   AND   RICHES 

1.  While  Jesus  recognized  the  right  of  private 
property,  and  said  nothing  that  makes  possessions 
illegal,  He  perceived  and  pointed  out  the  dangers 
of  riches.  "  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ! ' '  (Mark 
lo :  23.)  When  the  astonished  disciples  asked, 
"  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?  "  He  answered  not  by 
qualifying  the  peril  of  wealth,  but  by  declaring 
that  God  was  able  even  to  save  a  rich  man.  The 
danger  lay  in  the  power  of  money  to  gather  affec- 
tion and  to  absorb  trust,  thus  displacing  God 
(Mark  10  :  24).  So  he  warned  men  against  its 
accumulation  as  a  treasure  on  earth  (Matt.  6  :  19), 
and  assured  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  serve 
it  and  God  also  (Matt.  6  :  24). 

2.  Another  danger  of  riches,  which  conceals 
their  true  influence,  is  their  deceitfulness  (Matt. 
13  :  22).  Men  think  they  do  not  love  money,  or 
that  they  can  serve  both  mammon  and  God ;  but 
Jesus  declares  that  this  is  the  very  evil  of  wealth, 
and  that  it  is  very  hard  for  men  with  money  to 
enter  or  even  to  want  to  enter  the  kingdom  (Luke 
18 :   24).     Money  is  hardening  in  its  influence 

96 


JESUS    AND    RICHES  97 

also.  It  often  makes  men  suspicious,  checks  their 
sympathies,  and  separates  its  holders  from  human 
need.  The  cases  where  it  does  not  do  this  bring 
the  other  cases  into  sharper  prominence.  It  is 
not  strange  that  Jesus  declared  that  the  lot  of  the 
rich  was  woful  (Luke  6  :  24),  and  the  lot  of  the 
poor  blessed  in  comparison  (Luke  6  :  20).  This 
was  the  keen  lesson  of  the  parable  of  Dives  and 
Lazarus  (Luke  16:  19-31).  In  riches  and  pov- 
erty in  themselves  there  is  no  moral  quality.  It 
is  in  their  influence  and  inevitable  tendency. 

3.  Jesus  warned  men  against  the  restive  desire 
to  have  more  (Luke  12  :  13-15).  ^'Take  heed, 
and  keep  yourselves  from  all  covetousness. ' '  The 
desire  to  be  rich  is  useless,  for  a  man's  life  does 
not  consist  in  the  things  that  he  has  (Luke 
12  :  15).  It  is  fooHsh,  for  these  things  cannot  be 
taken  with  one.  They  are  things,  and  not  real 
possessions.  A  man  will  die  from  the  very  midst 
of  them  (Luke  12  :  16-20).  Our  real  possessions 
are  what  go  into  our  character  or  being,  and  so 
abide  with  us  everlastingly.  In  enumerating  in 
one  place  the  sins  of  the  inner  life,  Jesus  set  covet- 
ousness with  thefts,  wickedness,  and  deceit  (Mark 
7:  22,  cf.  Rom.  i:  29;  i  Cor.  6:  10;  Eph. 
5  :  3,  5  ;  Col.  3:5;  I  Thess.  2  :  5).  In  Heb. 
13:5  the  Greek  word  for  covetousness  is  differ- 
ent from  the  word  used  elsewhere.  It  means  not 
"  the  desire  for  money,"  but  **  the  love  of  silver." 

4.  This  evil  effect  of  money  Jesus  bitterly  ex- 


98  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

perienced.  The  Pharisees  loved  money,  and 
scoffed  at  Him  and  His  teaching  of  singularity 
and  fidelity  (Luke  16  :  14).  Judas  sold  Him  for 
money  (Matt.  26:  14-16;  Mark  14:  11). 

5.  Yet  Jesus  did  not  denounce  money  as  in- 
iquitous. He  had  a  treasurer  in  His  company 
(John  12:  6;  13:  29).  He  spoke  much  of  the 
necessity  of  recognizing  money  and  our  posses- 
sions as  trusts  from  God  (Matt.  25  :  14-30  ;  Luke 
19:  11-27).  He  sought  for  fidehty  in  men, 
whether  with  their  abilities  or  with  their  material 
possessions.  This  was  necessary  to  their  being 
intrusted  with  more  (Luke  16  :  11). 

6.  After  all,  gold  and  silver  were  trifles.  As 
ends  they  were  beneath  the  contempt  of  Jesus. 
As  means  they  were  useful  (John  13:  29),  but 
there  were  more  useful  things.  Jesus  had  no 
money  of  His  own  (Matt.  22:  19;  17:  24-27). 
But  who  has  done  as  much  for  the  world  as  He 
has  done  ?  Spiritual  wealth  is  worth  more  to  its 
possessor  and  to  the  world  than  material  wealth. 
The  latter  is  necessary.  In  our  modern  society 
large  capital  is  required  for  many  things,  and  no 
wrong  attaches  to  its  honest  accumulation.  It  is 
full  of  peril,  however,  to  its  possessor  and  to  so- 
ciety (Luke  18  :  18-25).  "^o  heap  it  up  is  folly  in 
the  man  who  is  not  also  rich  towards  God  (Luke 
12:  21).  And  it  is,  after  all,  not  true  wealth 
(Luke  16 :  11). 

7.  Two  curses  of  wealth,  as  Jesus  showed,  are 


JESUS    AND   RICHES  99 

its  tendency  to  distract  trust  from  God  to  things 
(Matt.  6:  19-34;  Rev.  3:  17,  18),  and  its  dep- 
rivation of  its  possessor  of  the  privilege  of  sacri- 
fice (Luke  21:  1-4;  Mark  12:  41-44)-  They 
have  wrong  ambitions  who  haste  to  be  rich.  Agur 
was  a  man  of  wiser  heart,  and  he  prayed,  "  Give 
me  neither  poverty  nor  riches ;  feed  me  with  food 
convenient  for  me."  But  do  you  know  who  Agur 
was,  and  where  that  prayer  is  recorded  ?  Find 
that  out,  and,  what  is  infinitely  more  than  that, 
learn  to  compose  your  heart  to  trust  the  living 
God,  who  gives  us  richly  all  things  to  enjoy,  and 
be  rich  in  Him. 


XXI 

JESUS   AND   POVERTY 

I.  Jesus  Himself  was  a  poor  man.  He  lived 
in  a  tradesman's  humble  home  (Matt.  13  :  55), 
and  worked  as  a  tradesman,  at  a  carpenter's 
bench  (Mark  6  :  3).  After  He  entered  upon  His 
ministry,  He  was  homeless,  and  spoke  of  this 
when  He  told  a  would-be  disciple  what  he  must 
expect  (Luke  9  :  58).  As  we  have  seen.  He  had 
little  or  no  money  of  His  own  (Matt.  22:  19; 
17:  24-27).  When  He  died,  instead  of  having 
an  estate  to  leave  behind  Him,  He  was  able  to 
make  but  one  bequest, — his  mother  to  John  (John 
19:  26,  27),  and  the  soldiers  who  superintended 
His  execution  drew  lots  for  His  single  robe  (Luke 
23  :  34).  Yet  it  is  possible  to  exaggerate  the 
significance  of  all  this.  While  we  should  call 
Jesus  poor,  He  was  doubtless  not  counted  among 
the  victims  of  poverty  in  His  day  (John  13  :  29). 
He  did  not  so  esteem  Himself  (Matt.  26:  11; 
Luke  4:  18).  There  were  times  when  He  was 
hungry  (Luke  4:  2;  Matt.  21:  18;  Mark 
II :  12),  but  He  and  His  companions  seem  not 
to  have  been  in  any  real  need  (Matt.  27:  55; 
Luke  8:3).  The  emphasis  He  laid  on  voluntary 
sacrifice  or  abstemiousness  (Matt.  16:  24;  Mark 
100 


JESUS    AND    POVERTY  lOI 

lo:  28,  29),  indicates  that  it  was  not  necessary 
for  His  immediate  companions  to  be  poor  (John 
12:  3);  indeed,  we  know  that  some  of  them 
were  not  (Mark    i:  20;    14:  3;    Luke  14:  13). 

2.  Yet  the  heart  of  man  has  not  erred  in 
thinking  of  Jesus  as  alHed  to  the  poor  rather  than 
to  the  rich,  and  so  in  a  unique  sense  the  friend 
and  helper  of  the  poor.  He  associated  with  the 
poor.  He  preached  to  them  (Matt.  11:  5  ;  Luke 
4:  18).  He  made  room  for  them  in  the  King- 
dom (Luke  14:  21).  The  disciples  easily  mis- 
understood His  last  words  to  Judas  as  a  command 
to  give  some  alms  to  the  poor,  showing  both  that 
Jesus  and  His  disciples  were  not  themselves 
counted  as  among  the  poor,  and  that  He  often 
thought  of  them  (John  13  :  29).  He  sympathized 
with  them  in  their  suffering  and  want  (Luke 
16:  20,  21).  He  was  quick  to  see  what  was 
noble  in  them  (Luke  21  :  3).  The  Sanhedrin 
sneered  at  Him  because  none  of  the  great  had  be- 
lieved on  Him,  but  only  the  common  herd  (John 
7  :  47-49),  and  with  all  human  want  He  declared 
He  was  one  (Matt.  25  :  35-45). 

3.  But,  though  thus  loving  the  poor  and  re- 
fusing to  lend  Himself  to  the  recognition  of  any 
class  line  against  them,  He  equally  refused  to  en- 
courage any  organization  of  class  feeling  against 
the  ruler  and  the  rich.  The  restless  elements  of 
Oriental  society  have  always  been  ready  to  follow 
any  demagogue  who  would  lead  the  lower  class 


102  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

against  the  higher.  Jesus  steadfastly  refused  to 
allow  any  class  hatred  or  any  political  rebellion 
(John  6:  15).  He  encouraged  good  feeling  on 
both  sides.  Under  his  influence  Zacchseus  ex- 
perienced a  great  warmth  of  heart  towards  the 
poor  (Luke  19:  8),  and  in  all  His  parables  He 
taught  the  duty  of  the  subordination  of  servants, 
their  just  regard  of  their  master's  rights,  and  their 
duty  to  be  content  and  faithful.  Find  illustra- 
tions of  this. 

4.  Jesus  deemed  the  spiritual  perils  of  poverty 
less  than  the  spiritual  perils  of  wealth.  He  knew 
that  each  had  its  perils.  There  is  a  pride  of 
poverty  as  well  as  a  pride  of  wealth,  and  a  self- 
trustful  Godlessness  is  possible  in  each.  In  wealth 
there  is  the  capacity  of  great  human  service,  but 
it  is  not  greater  than  the  power  of  personal  serv- 
ice in  the  poor ; ,  while  the  lowliness  and  sense  of 
need  of  the  poor  are  the  very  spirit  of  the  King- 
dom (Matt.  5:3;  Luke  6  :  20). 

5.  Jesus'  attempt  was  to  show  men  that  life  is 
independent  of  possessions,  that  character  is  not 
dependent  upon  things.  Any  wise  man  would 
give  all  that  he  had  for  his  life  (Matt.  16 :  26 ; 
10  :  28).  Abundant  property  did  not  make  him 
rich  (Luke  12  :  21),  and  its  absence  did  not  make 
him  poor  (Luke  12:  15).  A  man  with  nothing 
was  a  man  (Mark  10 :  46-52  ;  John  9  :  8,  35-39) ; 
and  food,  raiment,  and  shelter  were  enough  for 
the  outer  necessities  (Matt.  6:    19-34;   i  Tim. 


JESUS    AND    POVERTY  I03 

6 :  8).  Anything  that  men  want  beyond  this, 
they  want  wrongly  if  they  seek  it  for  themselves 
(Jer.  45  :  5).  The  other  real  necessities  of  life 
are  inner.  Books  and  travel  Jesus  would  surely 
not  condemn,  but  He  would  demand  that  they 
should  be  used  for  the  development  of  character 
and  so  for  human  service,  and  not  for  mere  per- 
sonal pleasure  or  amusement  or  diversion. 

6.  Jesus  proposed  no  economic  scheme  for  the 
abolition  of  poverty.  He  said  that  men  had  the 
poor  with  them  always  (Mark  14:  7;  John 
12:8).  He  did  show  that  the  best  and  eternal 
things  are  not  forbidden  to  the  poor,  that  rather 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  truly  theirs,  and  that 
their  lot  is  blessed ;  and  that  only  as  the  rich  be- 
come truly  poor  can  they  obtain  that  blessing. 
For  in  the  matter  of  the  wealth  that  abides  no 
rich  man  can  have  more  than  every  poor  man 
may  have,  and  the  peril  of  his  wealth  is  that  it 
makes  it  too  possible  that  he  may  have  less. 
There  is  a  world  of  wisdom  in  the  epitaph  in- 
scribed on  the  tombstone  of  David  Livingstone's 
parents, — 

"  To  show  the  Resting- Place  of 

Neil  Livingstone, 
and  Agnes  Hunter,  his  wife, 
And  to  express  the  thankfulness  to  God 

of  their  children 
John,  David,  Janet,  Charles,  and  Agnes 
for  poor  and  pious  parents." 


104  ^^^    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Mark  that  ''and."  It  is  of  the  kmgdom  of 
heaven.  The  world  would  have  written  "but." 
"Cursed  are  the  poor"  is  its  cry.  "Blessed," 
says  Christ. 


XXII 

JESUS   AND   GIVING  TO   MAN 

Jesus  is  the  great  fountain  of  philanthropy  and 
charity.  ' '  Every  society, ' '  says  an  English  writer, 
'^upon  arriving  at  a  certain  stage  of  civilization, 
finds  it  positively  necessary  for  its  own  sake  .  .  . 
to  provide  that  no  person  .  .  .  shall  perish  for 
want  of  the  bare  necessities  of  existence."  This 
is  not  Christ's  giving,  but  it  is  significant  that 
even  this  is  not  found  in  the  world  save  where 
Christ's  influence  prevails.  Jesus  taught  a  law 
of  care  for  the  needy  which  has  revolutionized 
the  world.  The  immense  works  of  the  ancients 
in  stone  are  surpassed  by  the  immense  works  of 
Christians  in  charity.  As  Lecky  says,  "Chris- 
tianity for  the  first  time  made  charity  a  rudimen- 
tary virtue." 

I.  Jesus  expressly  commanded  giving  for  the 
needs  of  the  poor.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
He  began  it.  "  Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee  " 
(Matt.  5  :  42).  *<  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given 
unto  you"  (Luke  6 :  38).  He  laid  this  as  the 
testing  duty  upon  the  rich  young  ruler,  who  had 
kept  all  the  commandments,  as  he  thought,  but 
who  broke  in  failure  over  the  one,  "  Give  to  the 
poor"  (Matt.  19:  21;  Luke  18:  22). 
105 


I06  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

2.  Yet  the  terms  in  which  Jesus  speaks  of 
such  giving  indicate  that  He  assumed  it  to  be  a 
natural  thing.  He  does  not  praise  the  virtue  of 
simple  almsgiving.  He  more  often  spoke  of  its 
abuse.  As  Professor  Peabody  says,  "Praise- 
worthy as  Jesus  assumes  the  habit  of  almsgiving 
to  be,  His  allusions  to  it  are  in  many  instances 
not  in  terms  of  commendation,  but  in  terms  of 
solemn  warning.  Pie  observes  the  abuse,  the  os- 
tentation, the  commercialism,  of  much  which 
passes  as  charity"  (Matt.  6:  1-4).  Giving 
money  was  an  easy  thing  and  an  obvious  duty, 
so  easy  and  obvious  that  many  did  it  whose  man- 
ner of  doing  it  showed  the  act  to  be  destitute  of 
spiritual  charity.  Giving  money  to  the  poor  is 
not  necessarily  charity.  It  may  be  cowardice,  or 
it  may  be  indolence,  or  it  may  be  selfishness. 

3.  The  real  giving  was  of  one's  self  with  the 
gifts.  This  was  what  made  the  example  of  the 
good  Samaritan  so  worthy  (Luke  10:  30-36). 
He  did  not  give  the  poor  victim  any  money.  He 
gave  him  personal  attention.  The  money  he 
gave  to  the  innkeeper  for  him.  This  is  the 
familiar  lesson  of  the  familiar  lines  of  Lowell. 

"  Not  what  we  give,  but  what  we  share. 
For  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare ; 
Who  giveth  himself  with  his  alms,  feeds  three, 
Himself,  his  hungry  neighbor,  and  Me." 

And  it  is  significant  that  the  picture  of  the 


JESUS    AND    GIVING    TO    MAN  IO7 

Samaritan  makes  no  mention  of  any  alms  given 
to  the  poor,  but  only  of  service  rendered  that  re- 
quired personal  knowledge  of  the  need  and  in- 
telligent adaptation  of  the  supply.  Indeed,  there 
is  no  record  of  Jesus'  having  given  alms.  He 
met  need  and  want  daily,  but  He  gave  more  than 
gold  or  copper.  When  might  He  have  given 
alms  and  stopped  with  that,  but  instead  gave 
sympathy  and  healing  ? 

4.  Jesus  rebuked  in  unmistakable  terms  the 
spirit  of  oppression  of  the  poor ;  the  Pharisees 
who  devoured  widows'  houses  and  for  a  pretense 
made  long  prayers  (Matt.  23  :  14;  Mark  12  :  40; 
Luke  20  :  27),  and  their  spirit  of  extortion  (Matt. 
23  :  25).  But  He  also  rebuked  openly  the  spirit 
of  externalism,  which  does  not  know  the  joy  and 
beauty  of  real  sacrifice  and  consecration  in  giving 
(Luke  II :  39-42,  r.  v.). 

5.  Jesus'  parables  indicate  as  admirable  in 
His  sight  a  generous  open-heartedness  in  the  deal- 
ing of  man  with  man.  Dives  should  not  have 
left  Lazarus  to  hunger  for  his  crumbs  (Luke 
16:  2oif.).  The  friend  surely  should  not  have 
been  reluctant  to  rise  and  give  the  asked-for 
loaves  (Luke  11:  5-8).  He  appeals  to  the  cer- 
tain beneficence  of  father  to  son  as  proof  of  the 
good  will  of  God  to  us  (Luke  11:  13).  And 
He  urges  on  His  disciples  to  give  freely  and  be 
generous,  as  they  had  received  freely  and  gener- 
ously (Matt.  10 ;  8). 


I08  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

6.  Jesus'  teaching  as  to  giving  to  man  is  not 
demoralizing.  Men  sometimes  think  it  is.  ''We 
can't  give  money  to  every  man,"  they  say.  ''  It 
wouldn't  be  just  to  society."  But  Jesus  did  not 
say,  "Give  money."  He  said,  "Give  to  every 
man."  What  right  have  we  to  confine  His 
words  to  money  ?  He  did  not  give  money  right 
and  left.  He  gave  Himself  without  stint.  We 
can  do  that,  and  it  will  be  the  salvation,  and  not 
the  ruin,  of  society  for  us  to  do  it.  Furthermore, 
He  did  not  always  give  alms  when  they  were 
asked  (John  9:  1-12),  or  mere  pity  when  pity 
was  asked  (Matt.  9  :  27).  He  went  back  of  the 
cries  of  these  needy  souls,  and  gave  more  than 
money  or  compassion.  He  was  here  not  to  give 
a  pittance  of  temporary  material  help.  He  was 
here  to  create  men,  and  His  giving  was  to  that 
end.  Ours  also  must  be.  When  money  will 
make  man,  we  must  give  it;  when  it  will  mar 
man,  we  must  withhold  it.  Our  giving  will  aim 
at  the  same  end  at  which  "the  highest  ambition 
of  the  beneficent  "  will  aim,  as  Mr.  Spencer  says, 
"to  have  a  share,  even  though  an  utterly  unap- 
preciable  and  unknown  share,  in  the  making  of 
man." 


xxm 

JESUS   AND   GIVING   TO   GOD 

I.  Jesus  nowhere  enjoins  upon  Christians  the 
duty  of  giving  the  tithe,  or  indeed  any  specific 
rule  of  giving.  Did  He  thereby  mean  to  abrogate 
for  His  disciples  the  duty  of  giving  one-tenth  of 
their  income  to  God,  and  to  free  them  from  all 
law  in  the  matter  ?  Yes  and  no.  He  presented 
the  same  principles  in  the  realm  of  giving  to  God 
that  He  pressed  in  the  realm  of  living  with  God 
and  of  serving  God.  He  did  not  come  to  destroy 
the  law,  but  to  fulfill  it.  He  did  not  tell  men  not 
to  murder  or  steal,  but  no  one  who  follows  Him 
can  do  either  of  these.  The  life  and  love  of 
Christ,  and  the  love  of  which  Christ  is  the  source 
in  men,  will  constrain  them  to  fulfill  the  law. 
And  so  in  giving  He  issued  no  legal  rule.  That 
course  was  contrary  to  His  whole  method,  and 
would  have  surely  made  of  the  gospel  a  second 
law.  He  planted  in  men  the  vital  principles  of 
Christianity,  and  they  led  men  to  do  all  that  the 
law  required  and  vastly  more.  In  saying  nothing 
about  the  requirement  of  the  tithe  and  emphasi- 
zing the  gift  of  the  whole  life  to  God  He  claimed 
far  more  than  men  had  been  content  to  render 
under  the  Old  Testament. 
109 


no  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

2.  In  giving  according  to  statute  the  Jews  had 
gone  into  bondage,  as  in  the  rest  of  the  law.  If 
God  got  a  tenth,  the  rest  belonged  to  themselves, 
to  use  according  to  their  will.  Their  punctilious 
exactness  in  giving  God  His  little  share,  and  then 
for  the  rest  indulging  in  all  injustice  and  unright- 
eousness, Jesus  was  quick  to  see  and  denounce 
(Matt.  23  ;  33;  Luke  11  :  42).  And  He  sharply- 
illustrated  the  self  righteousness  which  such  slavish 
giving  begat  (Luke  18  :  12).  Jesus  did  not  pro- 
pose to  ensnare  His  disciples  in  the  toils  of  legal- 
ism. 

3.  But  He  did  not  mean  by  His  avoidance  of 
explicit  directions  to  open  up  a  way  for  the  eva- 
sion of  duty.  We  might  as  well  reason  that,  be- 
cause Jesus  did  not  command  us  not  to  lie, 
therefore  we  are  free  to  lie,  as  to  hold  that,  be- 
cause Jesus  did  not  require  a  tithe,  therefore  we 
are  free  not  to  give  it.  Perhaps  some  are,  but 
not  because  Jesus  did  not  explicitly  command  it. 
His  doctrine  was  that  all  that  we  have  we  hold  in 
trust  from  God,  and  must  render  account  of 
all  to  Him.  Where  did  He  teach  this?  And 
all  that  we  have  we  are  to  give  to  Him.  That  is 
what  He  means  by  commanding  us  to  forsake  all. 
We  are  to  forsake  all  as  belonging  to  us,  and  to 
leave  all  for  Him  and  to  Him.  Then  He  can 
trust  us  to  use  what  is  regarded  as  no  longer  ours 
but  His  (Luke  14:  ;^^;  Matt.  19:  27;  16:  24; 
Luke  16:  13;  Matt.  10:  37;  Luke  14;  26). 


JESUS    AND    GIVING    TO    GOD  III 

4.  All  the  life  and  possessions  of  the  Christian 
are  to  be  in  God  (Matt.  6  :  24,  19,  20).  If  when 
the  call  of  God  comes  to  us  we  are  acting  as  if  all 
these  were  our  own,  that  call  requires  us  to  pass 
them  over  to  Him,  and  henceforth  to  recognize 
them  as  His. 

5.  Giving  to  God's  children  is  giving  to  God. 
With  the  Jew,  his  gifts  to  God  went  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  temple  and  its  worship.  But  we  have 
discovered  other  temples  besides  the  buildings  in 
which  we  worship  God.  Every  human  life  is  in- 
tended to  be  a  temple  in  which  God  dwells  (i  Cor. 
3  :  16,  17;  6:  19).  And  what  we  give  to  the 
hungry  and  naked  and  needy  among  men,  we 
give  to  Christ  in  men  (Matt.  25  :  34,  40). 

6.  The  sound  balance  of  Jesus'  teaching  is 
discernible  here.  He  taught  that  men  cannot 
evade  giving  to  God  by  discharging  mere  secular 
duties.  There  are  men  who  say  that  paying  their 
taxes  is  giving,  and  employing  labor  is  giving. 
"Render  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's," 
said  Jesus,  "but  also  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's  "  (Matt.  22:21).  On  the  other  hand.  He 
taught  that  men  cannot  evade  human  obligation 
by  pious  dedication.  The  Jews  resorted  to  that 
contemptible  trick.  They  devoted  their  money 
to  God,  and  thus  escaped  parental  claim  upon  it 
(Mark  7:  11).  Corban  is  "a  Hebrew  word, 
meaning  that  which  is  brought  as  an  offering. 
Whatever  might  be  required  by  a  parent  is  re^ 


112  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

fused  on  the  ground  that  it  has  a  prior  and  more 
sacred  destination.  The  son  might  either  make 
such  reservation  previously,  or  at  the  time  when 
he  observed  that  his  parent  was  about  to  ask  for 
any  article,  in  either  case  involving  himself  in  a 
sin  peculiarly  hateful  to  God." 

7.  Jesus'  view  of  noble  giving  is  shown  in  His 
commendation  of  the  poor  widow  (Luke  21 :  1-4). 
She  was  in  utter  destitution,  and  she  gave  all  she 
had,  tvvo  of  the  smallest  coins,  as  small  an  offer- 
ing as  was  allowed.  According  to  that  law  two 
pennies  would  to-day  be  the  smallest  offering. 
Jesus'  promise  to  the  poor  woman  rested  on  His 
measurement  of  acts  by  their  quality,  not  their 
quantity.  It  is  not  the  amount  we  give  to  God 
that  He  notices ;  it  is  the  amount  we  keep  back. 
Only  He  who  knows  both  can  know  the  character 
of  our  giving  and  the  spirit  of  it. 

8.  And  is  there,  then,  no  helpful  rule?  Cer- 
tainly there  is.  Paul  sets  it  forth  (i  Cor.  16 :  2). 
We  are  to  give  as  God  prospers  us,  a  tithe  or 
more  than  a  tithe,  perhaps  ten  tithes;  and  we 
must  be  very  sure  that  we  can  show  everything 
to  God  and  endure  His  judgment,  whatever  we 
give,  whether  a  tithe,  or  more  or  less.  But  above 
all  we  are  to  remember  three  things :  (i)  To 
give  as  God  has  given  to  us  (Matt.  10:  8); 
(2)  That  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive (Acts  20 :  35) ;  and  (3)  That  no  giving 
can  suffice  that  does  not  begin  with  and  include 


JESUS    AND    GIVING    TO    GOD  II3 

ourselves.  That  is  part  of  the  inscription  on 
*' Chinese"  Gordon's  monument  in  St.  Paul's, — 

"  Major-Gen.  Charles  George  Gordon,  C.  B., 

who  at  all  times 

and  everywhere  gave  his  strength 

to  the  weak, 

his  substance  to  the  poor, 

his  sympathy  to  the  suffering, 

his  heart  to  God." 

It  is  for  this  sort  of  giving  that  Paul  commends 
the  Macedonian  Christians  (2  Cor.  8:5).  Have 
we  practiced  it  ? 


xxrv 

JESUS   AND   THE   ORGANIZATION    OF   SOCIETY 

I .  As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  Jesus  was 
not  a  reformer  in  the  modern  political  or  social 
sense  of  the  word.  He  spoke  little  about  the  exist- 
ing organization  of  society.  He  assumed  it  as  the 
setting  of  human  life.  His  emphasis  was  rather  on 
what  was  personal  and  spiritual.  "  My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world  "  (John  i8  :  36,  37).  "  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you  "  (Luke  17  :  21).  Jesus 
was  engaged  in  setting  forth  the  principles  which 
should  govern  men  under  all  forms  of  social  or- 
ganization, rather  than  in  applying  those  prin- 
ciples to  any  one  form.  If  He  had  done  the 
latter,  men  in  other  lands  and  times  would  have 
evaded  the  weight  of  obligation  His  teaching  im- 
posed. How  unlike  the  conditions  of  His  time 
are  the  conditions  of  ours  !  He  lived  in  a  simple 
agricultural  land  ;  we  in  a  complicated  industrial 
time.  We  should  feel  His  doctrine  irrelevant  if 
it  were  not  universal  and  eternal  rather  than  local 
and  temporary. 

2.  Often,  indeed,  Jesus  refused  to  be  en- 
tangled in  the  questions  that  constituted  the  so- 
cial and  political  problem  of  His  day  (Matt.  22  : 
114 


JESUS   AND   ORGANIZATION    OF    SOCIETY       II 5 

15-22;  17:  24-27;  Luke  12:  13-21).  His 
method  was  different.  To  represent  Him  as 
a  social  reformer  is  erroneous.  His  gospel  has 
wrought  enormous  social  changes,  but  they  have 
been  gradual,  as  Schmidt  and  Lecky  have  pointed 
out,  and  often  rather  the  indirect  than  the  direct 
results  of  Christianity.  "  I  cannot  help  but  feel," 
says  R.  J.  Campbell,  **that  the  tendency  to 
preach  Christianity  as  a  social  gospel  only  is  not 
justified  by  the  practice  of  our  Lord  and  His 
apostles."  He  preached  a  gospel  of  personal 
religion,  and  the  social  consequences,  while  in- 
evitable and  important,  have  yet  been  only  con- 
sequences, not  the  substance  of  the  message. 
*'  Who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you  ?  " 
asked  Jesus,  referring  to  this  very  matter  of  social 
duty  and  relationship. 

3.  Jesus  teaches  that  men  must  be  free.  He 
means  not  so  much  that  they  must  be  free  from 
control  of  other  men,  as  from  the  slavery  in 
which  they  entangle  themselves.  He  knew  that 
most  men  are  possessed  by  their  possessions.  Yet, 
with  His  unfailing  moderation  of  mind.  He  does 
not  denounce  the  organization  of  society  that  al- 
lows men  to  possess  things.  Buying  and  selling, 
labor  and  employing  labor  (Matt.  20 :  6),  civil 
and  even  military  duty  (Matt.  9:  9;  8:  5,  13), 
fidelity  in  secular  trust  (Luke  16:  11;  Matt. 
25:  16,  17), — all  these  are  recognized  by  Jesus 
and  receive  not  one  word  of  blame.     Christian- 


Il6  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

ity,  in  Jesus'  view,  consisted  not  in  abolishing  all 
the  secular  intercourse  and  occupations  of  life,  but 
in  filling  them  all  with  religion,  and  doing  all 
things,  not  as  unto  men,  but  as  unto  God. 

4.  But  can  men  do  righteousness  and  walk 
with  God  under  every  social  order  ?  A  certain 
school  of  teachers  holds  that  they  cannot,  and 
that  our  own  organization  of  society  is  such  that 
these  things  are  impossible.  *'  Civilization,"  says 
one  of  these  teachers,  '^  denies  to  man  the  right 
to  live  a  guiltless  life.  Whatever  I  do,  which- 
ever way  I  turn,  I  can  neither  feed  myself  nor 
clothe  my  family,  nor  take  any  part  in  public  af- 
fairs as  a  citizen,  nor  speak  the  truth  as  I  conceive 
it,  without  being  stained  with  the  blood  of  my 
brothers  and  sisters."  That  is  not  true.  There 
is  more  justice  and  liberty  and  equality  now  than 
ever  in  the  world,  vastly  more  than  in  Jesus* 
day ;  yet  there  was  none  of  this  wild  ranting  in 
Jesus'  teaching,  or  in  Paul's. 

5.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  society  is  not  yet 
what  Jesus  would  have  it,  and  that  in  His  own 
day  it  was  horribly  unlike  what  Jesus  would  have 
had  it.  He  referred  sometimes  to  the  absolute 
contradiction  between  its  standards  and  His.  He 
did  this  once  when  He  set  forth  one  of  the  laws 
of  His  society,  which,  yet  unfulfilled,  but  surely 
to  be  fulfilled,  is  to  make  of  human  life  a  far 
sweeter  thing  and  the  world  a  more  blessed  place 
(Matt.   20:   26,   27;  John  13:   14).     He  told  a 


JESUS    AND    ORGANIZATION    OF    SOCIETY       II 7 

parable,  also,  which  set  forth  principles  of  econom- 
ics radically  different  from  those  which  prevailed 
then  and  prevail  now.  The  laborer  who  had 
worked  one  hour  because  he  could  not  get  work 
until  the  eleventh  hour  of  the  day  was  to  receive 
the  same  wages  as  the  man  who  had  toiled  all  the 
day  (Matt.  20 :  9).  These  were  the  first  utter- 
ances of  the  true  but  yet  unrecognized  law, 
"From  each  according  to  his  ability,  to  each  ac- 
cording to  his  need."  Every  man  should  give  to 
society  all  he  is  able,  and  receive  from  society  all 
he  needs.  How  that  principle  is  to  become  opera- 
tive, no  economist  can  tell.  No  statutes  or  mere 
education  can  make  it  so.  Jesus'  method  was  to 
redeem  personal  character  so  that  each  man  will 
serve  according  to  his  ability,  believing  that,  when 
that  result  is  attained,  men  will  see  a  way  to  at- 
tain the  other. 

6.  Jesus  taught  personal  religion,  it  is  true; 
but  personal  religion  consisted  of  two  things,  a 
new  life  with  God,  and  a  new  life  with  men. 
What  was  Jesus'  conception  of  a  man's  duties  to 
his  fellow-men?  What  did  He  teach  Christian 
men  that  they  owed  other  men  in  their  contact 
with  them,  in  business,  in  the  state,  or  in  social 
intercourse  ?  Make  a  list  of  these  duties.  When 
you  have  done  this,  you  will  be  able  to  appreciate 
the  force  of  Professor  Peabody's  words,  '*If  any 
revolution  in  the  industrial  order  is  to  overthrow 
the  existing  economic  system,  the  new  order  must 


Il8  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

depend  for  its  eminence  on  the  principles  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus;  but,  if  the  principles  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  should  come  to  control  the 
existing  economic  system,  a  revolution  in  the  in- 
-•ustrial  order  would  seem  to  be  unnecessary." 


XXV 

JESUS  AND  WAR 

1.  Many  arguments  in  defense  of  war  maybe 
at  once  set  aside,  such  as  the  failure  of  Jesus  to 
condemn  it  or  His  failure  to  require  soldiers  who 
believed  in  Him  to  abandon  the  profession.  The 
same  style  of  argument  would  support  slavery. 
Jesus  did  not  condemn  that  or  require  masters  to 
release  their  slaves.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
objections  to  war  may  be  set  aside  with  equal 
brevity ;  such  as  that  war  is  forbidden  by  the 
commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  when 
other  provisions  of  the  same  law  command  the 
killing  of  men  for  certain  offenses,  or  that  Jesus  is 
called  "Prince  of  Peace,"  when  elsewhere  the 
imagery  of  war  is  constantly  used,  "  In  righteous- 
ness He  doth  judge  and  make  war." 

2.  It  is  true,  as  the  Friends  maintain,  that 
Jesus  came  "  to  inculcate  such  principles  of  con- 
duct and  to  establish  such  relations  between  God 
and  men  that  unbrotherly  conduct  should  cease  "  ; 
but  to  contend  further,  as  some  do,  that  "His 
words  in  Matt.  5  :  38-48  lay  down  a  principle  of 
love  to  all  and  violence  to  none,  whether  fellow- 
countrymen  or  foreigner,  which  leaves  no  place 

119 


120  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

for  war,"  is  to  adopt  the  principle  upon  which 
the  communist  finds  in  Jesus'  teaching  a  denial 
of  the  rights  of  private  property ;  the  antinomian, 
the  abrogation  of  moral  law ;  and  the  believer  in 
"divine  healing,"  the  assertion  of  the  abolition  of 
disease.  Jesus  does  enjoin  brotherly  love  and 
long-suffering,  but  He  does  not  thereby  mean  to 
secure  to  injustice  a  perfectly  free  field  when  it 
has  power  to  work  its  will.  The  position  of  some 
opponents  of  war  reduces  itself  to  this,  that  bad 
men  may  resist  bad  men,  but  good  men  may  not. 
Jesus  did  not  teach  this  view. 

3.  "War,"  as  Captain  Mahan  says,  "is  the 
employment  of  force  for  the  attainment  of  an 
object  or  for  the  prevention  of  an  injury."  If  the 
object  be  wrong,  of  course  the  employment  of 
force  is  wrong.  But  is  it  wrong  if  the  object  be 
right  ?  If  so,  in  what  does  the  wrong  consist  ?  in 
the  use  of  physical  force,  or  in  the  death  of  men 
consequent  thereon  ?  There  is  nothing  intrinsic- 
ally wrong  in  the  former.  All  work  is  done  in 
this  way.  God  is  resisting  men  thus  constantly. 
Jesus  silenced  tempests  and  restrained  wild  men, 
and  Paul  "fought  with  wild  beasts."  The  fact 
that  God  manages  physical  force  by  His  will  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  He  does  wrong  if  it  is  in- 
trinsically wrong  to  accomplish  ends  with  force. 
Does  the  wrong  consist  in  the  deaths  that  follow 
in  the  train  of  war  ?  God  Himself  is  constantly 
taking  human  life,  and  He  has  authorized  man  to 


JESUS    AND    WAR  121 

take  life.     No,  war  cannot  be  wrong  because  it 
uses  force  or  results  in  death. 

//  4.  War  as  war  is  not  unjustifiable  in  our 
'  world.  It  would  be  if  waged  for  selfish  ends, 
but  in  Jesus'  words,  <' Resist  not  evil,"  there  is  no 
warrant  for  a  man,  as  Captain  Mahan  says,  "to 
surrender  the  rights  of  another,  still  less  if  he  is 
the  trustee  of  those  rights.  This  applies  with 
double  emphasis  to  rulers  and  to  nations;  for 
these,  in  this  matter,  have  no  personal  rights. 
They  are  guardians,  trustees,  and  as  such  are 
bound  to  do  their  best,  even  to  the  use  of  force, 
if  need  be,  for  the  rightful  interest  of  their  wards. 
Personally,  I  go  farther,  and  maintain  that  the 
possession  of  power  is  a  talent  committed  in 
trust,  for  which  account  will  be  exacted;  and 
that,  under  some  circumstances,  an  obligation  to 
repress  evil  external  to  its  borders  rests  upon  a 
nation  as  responsibility  for  the  slums  rests  upon 
the  rich  quarters  of  a  city.  In  this  respect  I  call 
to  witness  Armenia,  Crete,  and  Cuba,  without, 
however,  presuming  to  judge  the  consciences  of 
the  nations  who  witnessed  without  intervention 

. .     the  sufferings  of  the  first  two." 

5.  It  is  true  that  Jesus  said,  "  Put  up  again 
thy  sword  into  its  place  "  (Matt,  26  :  52)  ;  "  They 
that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword  " 
(Matt.  26:  52);  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world ;  if  My  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then 
would  My  servants  fight"  (John  18:  36).     But 


121  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUg 

He  was  submitting  Himself  to  death  for  the  good 
of  man  and  the  salvation  of  the  world.  Where 
our  death  will  secure  great  ends  we  must  be  will- 
ing to  die  gladly ;  but,  v/here  our  death  or  acts 
of  injustice  against  us  secure  no  good  end,  injure 
those  who  commit  them,  and  involve  innocent 
sufferers  whose  interests  are  held  in  trust,  we  are 
not  justified  in  taking  the  easy  course  of  tame 
submission.  Moreover,  Jesus  told  His  disciples 
at  the  end  to  take,  as  they  went  forth,  the  full 
equipment  of  a  traveller  in  a  hostile  country, — 
wallet,  purse,  and  sword.  Were  they  to  use  the 
wallet  and  purse,  and  carry  the  sword  merely  for 
amusement  ?  or  was  it  to  be  for  intimidation  ? 
If  the  latter,  does  not  the  right  to  equip  for  war 
imply  the  right  to  go  to  war  ? 

6.  But  the  main  question  is  this :  Is  non- 
interference with  wrong  or  resistance  thereto 
more  Christian  ?  The  use  of  force  and  the  con- 
sequence thereof  are  minor  questions.  The 
Christian  Church  in  the  first  century  was  not 
called,  and  never  as  a  Church  has  been  called,  to 
go  to  war ;  but  nations  and  ordered  governments, 
whether  then  or  now,  are  to  do  justice  and  to 
prevent  wrong.  Paul  said  this  was  the  divine 
purpose  of  government  in  the  case  of  Rome  (Rom. 
13  :  4).  It  is  not  possible  that  God  should  in- 
tend a  heathen  government  to  prevent  evil,  but 
Christian  governments  to  permit  it. 


XXVI 

JESUS   AND    NONRESISTANCE 

1.  Jesus  Himself  accepted  the  reproaches  and 
injustice  of  men.  When  people  threatened  to 
stone  Him  or  to  maltreat  Him,  He  made  no 
resistance.  He  simply  went  away  (Luke  4 : 
29,  30  j  John  8  :  59 ;  10  :  39).  He  reproved  His 
disciples  for  using  violence  in  defending  Him 
at  the  time  of  His  arrest  (Matt.  26:  52).  He 
Himself  refrained  from  making  use  of  the  terrible 
power  at  His  command  to  annihilate  His  enemies 
(Matt.  26  :  53,  54).  At  His  trial  He  endured  in- 
sult and  wrong  unmurmuringly  (Matt.  26:  67; 
Mark  14:  65;  Matt.  27:  30);  and  went  to  His 
death  without  resistance  or  complaint  (John 
19:  17);  ''He  was  oppressed,  yet  He  opened 
not  His  mouth"  (Isa.  53:  7).  ''Consider  Him 
that  hath  endured  such  gainsaying  of  sinners" 
(Heb.  12:3). 

2.  And  Jesus  bade  His  disciples  to  display  the 
same  spirit.  He  reproved  James  and  John  for 
proposing  to  take  vengeance  on  some  inhospitable 
Samaritan  villages  (Luke  9  1,54,  55).  He  plainly 
said  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  a  sermon  ad- 
dressed not  to  His  disciples  especially,  however, 

123 


124  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

but  to  the  people,  "  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil, 
but  whosoever  smiteth  thee  on  the  right  cheek, 
turn  to  him  the  other  also.  And  whosoever  shall 
compel  thee  to  go  one  mile,  go  with  him  twain  ' ' 
(Matt.  5  :  39,  41).  In  sending  out  the  apostles 
He  warned  them  of  hostility  to  be  met,  and  said, 
*'When  they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee 
into  the  next"  (Matt.  10  :  23).  Before  His  death 
He  foretold  the  sufferings  of  His  people.  They 
would  be  delivered  up  to  judgment ;  even  killed  ; 
but  they  were  to  accept  all  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  meekness  which  had  characterized 
Him. 

3.  Now,  did  Jesus  mean  all  these  instructions 
to  be  interpreted  in  a  literalistic  spirit  ?  Is  He 
enacting  laws  here  or  suggesting  principles  ? 
First,  it  would  be  strange  to  find  Him  doing  here 
what  elsewhere  He  deprecates.  He  came  to  sup- 
plant legal  enactment  by  the  free  principles  of 
life  and  love.  We  may  be  sure  that  here  He  is 
not  violating  His  method.  Secondly,  consider 
His  own  example.  He  was  smitten  on  the  cheek 
before  the  high  priest.  Jesus  did  not  offer  the 
other  cheek.  To  have  done  so  would  not  have 
been  a  display  of  love.  It  would  have  been  a 
temptation  to  the  evil  man  who  smote  Him  to 
repeat  his  horrible  offense.  And  often  Jesus 
avoided  death.  When  the  people  would  stone 
Him,  He  disappeared  (John  8:  59;  10:  39). 
Instead  of  submitting  to  the  will  of  evil  men, 


JESUS    AND    NONRESISTANCE  1 25 

He  escaped  it,  '*  because  His  hour  was  not  yet 
come." 

4.  Jesus  was  not  formulating  a  fixed  rule. 
The  gospel  <'  is  no  system  of  positive  enactments," 
as  Milman  says  ;  "it  is  the  establishment  of  cer- 
tain principles,  the  enforcement  of  certain  defi- 
nitions, the  cultivation  of  a  certain  temper  of 
mind,  which  the  conscience  (J.  e.j  the  moral 
judgment)  is  to  apply  to  the  ever- varying  ex- 
igencies of  time  and  place."  Jesus  recognizes 
His  right  to  do  with  His  life  what  He  pleased  to 
do  with  it.  "  No  one  taketh  it  away  from  Me," 
He  said,  *'but  I  lay  it  down  of  Myself.  I  have 
power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take 
it  again  "  (John  lo  :  i8).  If  it  was  right  to  escape 
from  the  murderous  purposes  of  men.  He  escaped. 
If  it  had  been  right  to  summon  His  twelve  legions 
of  angels,  He  would  have  done  so.  When  it  was 
right  to  die  quietly,  He  died  without  resistance. 
When  outwardly  He  was  called  to  submit  and 
when  not  He  determined  in  the  light  of  each 
situation.     We  must  do  the  same. 

5.  The  real  significance  of  Jesus'  teaching 
appears  when  we  understand  Him.  He  was  not 
a  lawgiver,  He  said  (Luke  12:  14).  He  was 
Lord  of  life.  And,  as  Trench  says,  if  He  is 
legislating  at  all.  He  "is  legislating  here  for  the 
inward  spirit  of  man.  The  offering  of  the  other 
cheek  may  be  done  outwardly,  but  only  inwardly 
can  it  be  always  right ;  being,  as  it  is,  the  meek- 


126  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

ness  of  the  spirit  under  wrong,  the  preparedness 
of  heart  to  bear  as  much  as  has  been  already  in- 
flicted or  more,  if  so  any  good  may  come  to  the 
injurious  person.  But  Christian  love  and  pru- 
dence are  in  each  case  to  decide  whether  it  is  also 
a  precept  for  the  outward  conduct.  It  may  be  so ; 
it  will  be  so  often ;  for  instance,  if  thou  thinkest  that 
thy  offending  brother  will  be  won  by  thy  Christian 
patience,  and  his  evil  overcome  by  thy  exhibition 
of  thy  good,  then  it  will  be  thy  duty,  if  he  has 
done  thee  one  wrong,  to  lay  thyself  open  for  a 
second.  But  if  thou  countest  that  his  evil  will 
grow  with  impunity,  that  he  will  strengthen  him- 
self in  his  sin,  and  therefore  in  his  misery,  through 
thy  forbearance,  then  it  is  thy  duty  to  turn  to 
him  thy  love  on  its  severer  side,  to  repress  the  out- 
comings  of  his  evil,  though  it  will  be  the  same  love 
that  dictates  this  line  of  conduct  or  the  other. 
The  commands  are  to  stand  fast  forevermore  in 
all  their  breadth  and  fullness ;  their  only  limitation 
is  this,  that  love  and  the  Spirit  of  God  are  in  each 
case  to  be  their  interpreters,  to  apply  them  to  the 
emergent  necessity.  When  this  love  and  this 
'  spirit  are  wanting,  the  precept  must  be  interpreted 
wrongly.  God  dealt  with  men  by  law  and  by 
j  gospel,  and  the  same  love  was  in  each,  as  the  law 
/  punished  and  the  gospel  forgave,  each  for  the 
/  bringing  about  an  end  beyond  itself;  and  the 
same  end,  even  the  righteousness  of  the  sinner, 
though  they  sought  it  b}-  ways  so  different.     So 


JESUS    AND    NONRESISTANCE  1 27 

will  there  be  counterparts  to  both  in  the  wise, 
loving  conduct  of  a  Christian  man  towards  his 
offending  brother.  The  everlasting  rule  is,  that 
thou  render  good  for  thy  brother's  evil ;  the 
shape  in  which  thou  shalt  render  it,  love  shall 
prescribe."  y*/> 


xxvn 

JESUS   AND   RIGHTS 

1.  Blackstone  divides  rights  into  two  classes, 
absolute  and  relative.  Woolsey  proposes  seven 
classes,  natural,  social,  political,  jural,  etc.  Jesus 
suggested  a  radically  different  division ;  namely, 
rights  which  we  have  no  right  to  surrender,  and 
rights  which  we  have  a  right  to  waive.  Thus, 
regarding  the  payment  of  the  temple  tax.  He 
said  to  Peter,  "What  thinkest  thou,  Simon?  the 
kings  of  the  earth,  from  whom  do  they  receive 
toll  or  tribute  ?  from  their  sons  or  from  strangers  ? 
and  when  he  said.   From  strangers,  Jesus  said 

unto  him,  Therefore  the  sons  are  free.    But " 

(Matt.  17:  25-27).  He  had  a  right  to  decline 
to  pay  that  tax.  He  had  a  right  to  waive  this 
right,  "lest  we  cause  them  to  stumble." 

2.  The  idea  of  right  or  authority  was  a  promi- 
nent one  in  Jesus'  teaching.  "  The  Son  of  man 
hath  authority  on  earth  to  forgive  sins "  (Matt. 
9:6);  and  He  declared  solemnly  at  the  end, 
"All  authority  hath  been  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth"  (Matt.  28  :  18).  He  had 
authority  over  all  flesh,  even  before  He  met  and 
conquered  death  (John  17  :  2).     He  was  not  one 

128 


JESUS    AND    RIGHTS  1 29 

who  felt  Himself  an  outcast  devoid  of  the  dignity 
of  great  rights.  He  was  the  Son  of  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  had  made  Him  master  of  all 
human  life  (John  13:  13;  Matt.  25:  31,  32; 
7  :  21 ;  John  5  :  22-27). 

3.  And  some  of  Jesus'  rights  He  could  not 
waive.  He  could  not  waive  the  right  of  self- 
direction  of  His  life.  "  No  one  taketh  it  away 
from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  Myself.  I  have 
authority  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  authority  to 
take  it  again  "  (John  10  :  18).  And  so  with  the 
rights  of  spiritual  freedom  (John  10  :  38,  39);  of 
His  self-declaration  (John  8  :  54-59)  ;  of  con- 
sistent self-direction  (Matt.  8:32,  ^^^^  \  His  right 
of  just  treatment  before  a  court  (John  18  :  19-23), 
— all  these  were  rights  Jesus  declined  to  ignore  or 
abandon.  He  claimed  the  right  to  reign  over  all 
human  wills  (John  7  :  17  ;  14  :  15  ;  15  :  14),  and 
to  minister  to  all  dead  souls  (John  5  :  40),  and  all 
weary  hearts  (Matt.  11  :  28,  29). 

4.  But  other  rights  Jesus  did  freely  waive. 
The  incarnation  in  itself  was  a  great  surrender 
of  rights.  The  Saviour  emptied  Himself  and 
counted  His  right  to  be  equal  with  God  as  a 
prize  not  to  be  jealously  retained  (Phil.  2  :  1-8). 
He  went  without  the  comforts  of  a  home  (Luke 
9  :  58).  He  submitted  Himself  to  ignominy  and 
shame,  to  betrayal  (Matt.  26  :  24 ;  17:  22; 
20  :  18),  and  to  the  pitiful  death  on  the  cross; 
(Heb.   12  :  2).     He   surrendered   everything   tci 


130  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

His  enemies  (John  18  :  i-ii).  He  informed 
Pilate  that  he  was  mistaken  in  thinking  that  he 
had  power  over  Him.  Jesus  simply  submitted 
to  him  (John  19:  11).  Jesus  had  the  right  to 
avoid  all  this,  but  the  noble  glory  of  His  redemp- 
tion was  that  He  brought  it  to  us  of  grace,  giving 
Himself  to  sacrifice  by  His  own  will.  He  made 
the  most  Godlike  use  of  His  right  to  remain  in  the 
calm  of  God  in  heaven.  He  gave  it  up.  This 
was  of  the  essence  of  His  rights.  As  Woolsey 
says  :  "  Rights  may  be  waived.  The  very  nature 
of  a  right  implies  that  the  subject  of  it  decides 
whether  he  shall  waive  it  or  not,"  and  George 
Macdonald  rightly  declares  that  "  the  grandest 
thing  in  having  rights  is  that,  being  your  rights, 
you  can  give  them  up." 

5.  There  can  be  no  sacrifice  when  there  are 
no  rights.  The  greatest  sacrifice  is  the  self- 
abasement  of  those  who  have  most  rights.  If  I 
have  no  authorities,  I  cannot  waive  any.  Jesus 
was  loved  by  the  Father  because  He  gave  up 
what  was  His  to  give  up  or  to  keep  (John  10  :  17). 

6.  And  likewise  the  possession  of  rights  is  no 
evidence  that  we  are  to  use  them.  They  may 
have  been  given  us,  not  to  use,  but  to  waive. 
''  It  can  never  be  too  often  repeated  in  this  age," 
says  Professor  Woolsey,  "  that  duty  is  higher  than 
freedom ;  that,  when  a  man  has  a  power  or  pre- 
rogative, the  first  question  to  ask  is,  '  How  and 
in  what  spirit  is  it  my  duty  to  use  my  power  or 


JESUS    AND    RIGHTS  I3I 

prerogative  ? '  What  law  can  I  lay  down  for  my- 
self so  that  my  powers  shall  not  be  a  source  of 
evil  to  me  and  to  others?  "  You  have  paid  your 
fare  in  a  crowded  street-car,  and  have  a  seat.  A 
tired  woman  with  a  baby  gets  on.  You  have  a 
right  to  keep  your  seat,  and  you  have  a  right  to 
surrender  that  right.  You  may  think  you  have  a 
right  to  drink.  And  you  may  by  your  example 
be  leading  another  man  to  drink  who  has  not  your 
strength  of  will,  and  who  will  be  sure  to  end  in 
shipwreck.  You  have  a  higher  right  to  refuse  to 
drink  wine  while  the  world  stands.  Our  duties 
are  made  up  of  our  higher  rights,  our  rights  to 
abandon  our  rights.  The  Apostle  Paul  had 
learned  this,  and  every  little  man  or  little  woman 
who  thinks  the  strong  thing  is  to  assert  all  pos- 
sible authority,  and  to  waive  no  slightest  right, 
will  learn  a  great  deal  from  his  kingly  example 
(2  Thess.  3:9;!  Cor.  9 :  4-27). 

.'•The  duty  to  cause  no  stumbling  was  greater  in 
Jesus*  view  than  the  right  of  exemption  from  the 
temple  tax.  Duties  are  always  greater  than  rights. 
In  the  highest  sense  rights  are  rights  only  when 
they  are  duties. 


XXVIII 

JESUS    AND   LAW 

1.  Jesus  respected  law.  The  charges  made 
agamst  Him  on  the  ground  that  He  was  a  law- 
breaker broke  down  (John  i8  :  ^:^,  38  ;  Luke 
23  :  2).  He  was  careful  to  say  nothing  that 
weakened  the  stability  of  civil  government  (Mark 
12  :  14-17).  He  was  equally  jealous  of  the  right 
recognition  of  the  true  principles  of  the  law  of 
His  nation  (Matt.  5  :  17,  18).  He  often  ap- 
pealed to  it  (Matt.  12:5;  John  8  :  17 ;  10  :  34). 
He  found  in  it  a  great  weight  of  glorious  teach- 
ing (Matt.  7:  12;  22  :  36,  40).  And  what  He 
objected  to  in  the  Pharisees  was  their  omission  of 
these  great  principles  of  the  law  and  their  absorp- 
tion in  trifling  details  (Matt.  23  :  23).  He  ex- 
pected men  to  obey  the  law  (Matt.  8:4;  5  :  19). 

2.  Jesus  enacted  law.  This  is  not  a  wholly 
reliable  statement,  but  it  conveys  a  truth.  Jesus 
came,  as  has  been  emphasized  in  these  studies, 
not  to  issue  rules,  but  to  implant  life.  His  laws 
are  not  mechanical  orders.  They  are  the  out- 
working of  an  indwelling  principle.  But  He 
clearly  defined  the  way  in  which  His  spirit  of 
life  in  men  would  express  itself.     He  issued  the 

132 


jESUS    AND    LAW  I33 

great  commandment  of  love  (John  13:  34; 
15  :  12).  He  bore  to  men  God's  commandment 
of  life  (John  12:  50).  The  great  commission 
charged  His  disciples  with  teaching  men  every- 
where to  observe  His  commandments  (Matt. 
28  :  20).  And  He  made  obedience  the  great  test 
of  love  and  friendship  for  Him  (John  14:  15; 
15  :  14).  Our  specific  duties  are  not  less  but 
more  clear  because  Jesus  was  the  giver  of  a  liv- 
ing principle  rather  than  of  formal  legal  require- 
ments. He  did  not  tell  men  what  service  they 
were  to  do  for  one  another.  He  did  tell  them 
that  they  were  to  live  to  serve  one  another 
(Luke  22  :  26,  27). 

3.  But  did  Jesus  mean  that  we  are  always  to 
obey  law  when  it  constrains  us,  but  never  to  avail 
ourselves  of  any  constraint  it  may  lay  upon  others 
to  our  interest  ?  Would  He  approve  of  lawsuits, 
for  example  ?  We  have  no  direct  word  from  Him 
on  the  subject.  He  declined  to  act  as  a  judge 
between  a  man  and  his  brother  in  the  matter  of 
their  inheritance  (Luke  12:  14).  He  warned 
men  against  the  risk  of  getting  into  the  courts. 
He  was  referring  apparently  to  the  case  of  a 
debtor  and  his  creditor,  and  advising  the  former 
to  settle  out  of  court  (Matt.  5  :  25,  26;  cf.  Luke 
12  :  58,  59).  But  Jesus  speaks  no  word  of  dis- 
respect or  contempt  for  established  legal  pro- 
cedure, although  He  cites  in  one  of  His  parables 
the  illustration  of  an  unjust  judge  (Luke  18:2,  6). 


134  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

He  speaks  of  the  day  when  His  apostles  shall 
themselves  be  elevated  to  judge  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel  (Luke  22  :  30). 

4.  The  Apostle  Paul  dealt  with  the  question 
of  litigation  in  one  of  his  epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians (i  Cor.  6:1-11).  ''He  held  that  Christians 
should  not  sue  one  another  before  heathen  tribu- 
nals. If  difficulties  arise,  let  appeal  be  made  to 
Christian  arbitration.  JBut,  better  still,  let  litiga- 
tion be  disarmed  by^  submitting  to  wr6ng.'<  As 
for  doing  wrong,  that  could  not  be  thought  of  in 
Christians.  Paul  closes  this  passage,  as  others, 
with  an  appeal  to  the  lofty  moral  status  of  Chris- 
tians, and  the  way  such  questions  as  had  arisen 
at  Corinth  should  be  impossible  on  the  plane  on 
which  Christians  moved  (i  Cor.  6:  i-ii).  The 
great  changes  which  Christianity  has  produced, 
having  woven  itself  into  sentiment  and  institu- 
tions and  affected  jurisprudence,  however  much 
our  laws  may  still  be  Roman  rather  than  Chris- 
tian, have  altered  the  circumstances  of  Christians ; 
but  there  are  still  many  who  walk  literally  ac- 
cording to  Paul's  injunction.  This  was  one  of 
Robert  Carter's  principles.  '  He  had  the  best 
of  all  dispositions,'  his  daughter  writes,  'nat- 
urally a  quick  temper,  under  perfect  control.  He 
had  his  own  strong  convictions  on  important  sub- 
jects, and  was  not  afraid  to  express  them  when 
necessary ;  but  he  had  a  large  charity  for  other 
people's  convictions,  and  the  petty  affairs  which 


JESUS    AND    LAW  1 35 

many  people  quarrel  over  were  to  him  trifles,  un- 
worthy of  a  thought.  "Why  do  ye  not  rather 
suffer  wrong  ? ' '  was  a  text  often  on  his  lips.  .  .  . 
Another  point  upon  which  he  was  very  decided 
was  that  he  would  never  engage  in  a  lawsuit.  He 
preferred  to  suffer  wrong  rather  than  violate  his 
peace-loving  principles.  Again  and  again  he 
was  placed  where  other  men  would  have  gone  to 
law,  but  he  held  to  his  principle,  and  was  never  a 
loser  by  it  in  the  end,  and  sometimes  he  was  a 
great  gainer. '  That  was  the  spirit  of  Paul,  too ; 
yet,  as  a  citizen  of  the  Roman  empire,  he  had 
his  duties  as  well  as  his  rights,  and  he  objected  to 
irregular  procedure  which  affronted  the  rights  of 
citizenship  (Acts  i6:  37;  22:  25),  and  was  not 
loath  to  appeal  his  case  to  the  court  of  Caesar, 
when,  as  Agrippa  said,  '  he  might  have  been  set  at 
liberty  if  he  had  not  appealed  '  "  (Acts  26  :  32). 

5.  Montaigne  in  his  essay  on  ''How  one 
ought  to  govern  his  will,"  speaks  his  mind  on  the 
matter  of  lawsuits.  *'  How  often  have  I  done 
myself  an  apparent  injustice,  to  avoid  the  danger 
I  should  fall  into  by  receiving  the  same,  happily 
worse,  from  the  judges,  after  a  world  of  troubles 
and  of  foul  and  vile  practices,  more  enemies  to 
my  natural  disposition  than  fire  or  torment.  As 
much  as  we  may,  and  it  may  be  more  than  we 
may,  we  should  abhor  brabbling  and  lawing ;  for 
it  is  not  only  an  ingenious  part,  but  sometimes 
profitable  also  at  some  times  to  yield  a  little  of 


136  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

our  right.  ...  As  a  pure  maiden  from  quarrels, 
I  have  without  important  offense,  either  passive 
or  active,  lingered  out  a  long  life  and  never  heard 
worse  than  mine  own  name.  A  rare  grace  of 
heaven. ' ' 

6.  What  Jesus  taught  was  respect  for  truth 
and  justice,  and  the  necessity  of  the  spirit  of  un- 
selfishness and  love.  He  debarred  all  malice  and 
self-seeking.  But  His  condemnation  of  selfish- 
ness and  evil  spirit  are  not  to  be  interpreted  as 
exemption  from  the  duty  to  suppress  injustice  and 
wrong.  We  are  not  to  be  zealous  for  ourselves, 
but  we  are  to  be  zealous  for  truth  and  righteous- 
ness ;  and,  when  it  is  necessary  in  order  to  secure 
these  to  use  the  established  institutions  of  justice, 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  confirms  and  does  not  de- 
stroy that  responsibility. 


XXIX 

JESUS   AND   CHARACTER 

1.  Jesus  was  always  overflowing  in  His  teach- 
ings. As  He  set  forth  some  central  truth,  a  blaze 
of  light  fell  from  Him  on  a  host  of  related  truths. 
In  the  parable  of  the  Good  Shepherd  He  drops  in 
a  sentence  His  profound  judgment  as  to  the  su- 
premacy of  character.  <*The  hirehng  fleeth," 
He  says,  *< because  he  is  an  hireling"  (John 
lo  :  13).  He  does  not  say,  "The  hireling  is  an 
hireling  because  he  fleeth."  In  Jesus'  view  a 
man  does  what  he  does  because  he  is  what  he  is. 
A  liar  lies  because  he  is  a  liar.  He  might  for  the 
moment  find  it  to  his  advantage  to  tell  the  truth, 
but  he  would  not  cease  to  be  a  liar.  And  Jesus 
lays  all  the  emphasis  on  the  inner  character,  not 
on  the  outward  act  that  expresses  the  inward 
character. 

2.  Jesus  abhorred  externalism.  The  Phari- 
sees were  past  masters  at  that  business.  Form 
and  ceremony  were  everything  with  them.  Jesus 
poured  denunciation  on  the  falsehood  of  this 
view.  When  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  found 
fault  with  His  free  disregard  of  their  lustrations 
and  petty  rules,  and  even  His  disciples  failed  to 

137 


138  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

grasp  His  thought,  He  said  plainly  to  Peter, 
"The  things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth 
come  forth  out  of  the  heart,  and  they  defile  the 
man,  but  to  eat  with  unwashed  hands  defileth 
not  the  man"  (Matt.  15  :  18,  20).  Slavishly  ob- 
serving certain  childish  rules  could  affect  charac- 
ter injuriously,  but  neglecting  such  rules  could 
not  degrade  it.  Such  rules,  as  Jesus  said,  rather 
expressed  the  mean  and  quibbling  character 
within  that  created  it. 

3.  Of  course  Jesus  never  denied  that  our  acts 
do  influence  our  character.  He  laid  constant 
emphasis  on  the  will  and  what  the  will  can  do. 
If  we  will  to  do  Christ's  will,  we  shall  be  influ- 
enced in  our  opinions  (John  7:  17).  If  we  will 
to  love,  we  shall  become  loving  (John  13  :  34,  35  ; 
14:  15  ;  15  :  10).  Whether  we  like  to  serve  or 
not,  we  are  to  will  to  serve,  and  the  disposition  of 
service  will  in  due  time  be  begotten  in  us  (Luke 
22  :  24,  27).  But  the  very  will  to  do  these  things 
is  itself  an  indication  of  character,  either  as  we 
have  attained  it,  or  as  we  long  to  attain  it  (John 
15  :  14).  The  publican  was  the  confessed  sinner, 
but  he  had  a  better  character  than  the  Pharisee 
(Luke  18 :  9-14).  And  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
opened  for  publicans  and  harlots  before  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  because,  though  the  con- 
duct of  the  latter  had  been  more  exemplary,  the 
character  of  the  former  was  truer,  because  it 
opened  to  Christ  for  the  full  cleansing  it  needed, 


JESUS    AND    CHARACTER  1 39 

as  the  Pharisee's  character  did  not  (Matt.  21  : 

3i>  32). 

4.  Jesus  fixed  His  gaze  on  the  inner  hfe. 
*' Character,"  in  His  view,  in  the  words  of  Mr. 
Moody's  favorite  quotation,  *'  is  what  a  man  is  in 
the  dark."  Sin  did  not  consist,  He  taught,  in 
outer  act  alone.  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was 
said,  Thou  shalt  not  commit  aduhery ;  but  I  say 
unto  you  that  every  one  that  looketh  on  a  woman 
to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with 
her  already  in  his  heart"  (Matt.  5:27,  28). 
Men  concern  themselves  with  what  appears  on 
the  surface  of  life.  Jesus  pierced  home  to  its 
core.  Search  out  all  the  instances  of  His  read- 
ing the  inner  thoughts  of  men,  and  find  the 
declaration  of  the  evangelist  that  He  thoroughly 
understood  the  inner  life  of  man. 

5.  With  Jesus  the  great  question  regarding  a 
man  was  not,  What  does  he  do?  but,  What  is  he? 
He  appealed  constantly  to  men  on  the  basis 
of  His  own  character,  and  clearly  intimated 
that  the  evidences  of  His  works  were  inferior  to 
this  (John  14:  11).  He  declared  that  He  Him- 
self was  eternal  character  (John  8:58).  It  was 
in  such  terms  that  God  had  described  Himself  to 
Moses, — ''  I  am."  He  was  character  (Ex.  3  :  14). 
And  so  Jesus  sought  for  character  in  others.  Be 
the  children  of  your  Father  (Matt.  5  :  45).  Be 
ye  ready  men  (Matt.  24:  44).  Be  children  of 
light  (John  12:  ^6).     Discipleship  was  a  matter 


140  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

of  character,  of  being  (John  15  :  8),  And  so 
Jesus  bade  Thomas,  not  to  believe,  but  to  be  a 
beheving  man,  to  lay  aside  the  character  of  dis- 
trust and  pessimism  and  acquire  the  character  of 
faith  (John  20 :  27). 

6.  Character  is  the  fundamental  thing.  Even 
men  ask  of  one  another,  not,  ''  Does  the  man  do 
right?"  but,  '^s  he  all  right?"  That  is  what 
interests  God.  What  am  I  ?  Back  of  all  that 
men  see,  Jesus  is  looking  for  truth  and  holiness 
in  our  inward  part.     Does  He  find  them  ? 


J 


XXX 

JESUS   AND   DUTY 

1.  A  NOBLE  sense  of  iron  duty  marked  the 
life  of  Christ.  His  life  began  with  it.  "I  must 
be  about  My  Father's  business"  (Luke  2:  49). 
When  men  suggested  a  localization  of  His  work 
at  the  beginning  of  His  ministry,  He  felt  it  again. 
"I  must  preach  the  gospel  to  the  other  cities 
also  "(Luke  4:  43).  His  whole  life  was  a  splen- 
did fulfillment  of  duty. 

"I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent 
Me"  (John  9:  4).  He  saw  duty  in  His  death 
and  in  the  manner  of  it,  and  joyfully  yielded 
Himself  that  duty  might  be  fully  met  (John  3:14; 
12:34),  refusing  all  evasion  (Matt.  16:  21; 
Mark  8 :  33 ;  Luke  17:  25;  24 :  7,  44).  And 
He  rested  in  the  secure  knowledge  that  duty  also 
would  call  Him  from  the  grave  into  which  it  led 
Him  (John  20  :  9  ;  Luke  24  :  26). 

2.  And  Jesus  taught  duty  to  others.  The 
living  Father  sought  through  Him  men  who 
would  discharge  the  duty  of  spiritual  worship 
(John  4  :  24).  He  taught  that  men  ought  always 
to  pray  and  not  to  faint  (Luke  18 :  i).  He  did 
not  depreciate  small  things,   but  He  said  they 

141 


142  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

ought  not  to  prevent  the  doing  of  larger  duty 
(Matt.  23  :  23).  And  in  many  of  His  parables 
He  held  up  to  praise  the  men  who  were  faithful 
in  duty,  and  to  reproach  those  who  were  remiss 
(Matt.  25  :  14,  30).  Mention  the  other  parables 
teaching  the  duty  of  faithfulness.  And  Jesus 
told  His  disciples  that  His  own  example  of  low- 
liness constituted  a  new  and  unassailable  ground 
for  the  duty  of  humility  and  service  (John  13  :  14). 
3.  Jesus  did  not  set  duty  against  love  and 
make  comparisons.  We  are  constantly  doing 
this.  "No  hint  of  duty  to  constrain  my  feet." 
Doubtless  what  we  mean  is  right  enough,  but  it  is 
unwise  to  imply  any  conflict  between  the  sense 
of  duty  and  other  senses.  Duty-doing  is  the  ex- 
pression of  love.  "Ye  are  my  friends,"  says 
Jesus,  "if  ye  do  the  things  which  I  command 
you"  (John  15  :  14).  "If  ye  love  Me,  ye  will 
keep  My  commandments"  (John  14:15). 
Some  good  Christians  reproach  themselves  be- 
cause they  do  not  feel  loving,  who  yet  are  doing 
with  conscious  fidelity  the  duty  assigned  by  God. 
But  what  better  test  of  love  can  there  be  than 
this  ?  Jesus  said  Himself  that  no  amount  of  ver- 
bal protestation  could  atone  for  a  failure  to  do 
duty.  The  kingdom  was  open,  He  said,  not  to 
those  who  say,  "Lord,  Lord,"  but  to  those  who 
do  the  will  of  the  Father  (Matt.  7:21).  It  is 
better  to  do  our  duty  without  emotion  than  to 
have  emotion  and  fail  in  duty.     Duty-doing  will 


JESUS    AND    DUTY  I43 

beget  in  due  time  all  right  feeling,  but  mere  feel- 
ing does  not  issue  necessarily  in  true  duty-doing 
(John  14:  21-24). 

4.  At  the  same  time,  Jesus  did  not  teach  that 
mere  external  performances  of  acts  exhausted  our 
measure  of  obligation.  The  exact  fulfillment  of 
the  definite  measure  of  our  outward  duty  Jesus 
said  was  what  was  to  be  normally  expected  from 
a  man.  "  When  ye  shall  have  done  all  the  things 
that  are  commanded  you,  say,  We  are  unprofit- 
able servants;  we  have  done  that  which  it  was 
our  duty  to  do  "  (Luke  17  :  10).  In  the  business 
world  it  is  something  more  than  duty  that  is  ex- 
pected. "You  must  do  what  you  are  employed 
to  do,"  said  a  "successful"  businessman,  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Schwab,  in  a  talk  to  boys,  "a  little 
better  than  anybody  else  does  it.  Everybody  is 
expected  to  do  his  duty,  but  the  boy  who  has 
done  his  duty  and  a  little  more  than  his  duty  is 
the  boy  who  is  going  to  succeed  in  this  world." 
True  Christians  will  never  ask,  "  How  little  can 
I  do  and  still  do  my  duty?"  but,  "How  much 
can  I  overspread  and  exceed  my  duty?" 

5.  If  men  sometimes  err  by  foolishly  depreci- 
ating duty  in  comparison  with  love,  they  err  also 
in  exalting  simple  duty-doing  as  if  it  were  a 
strange  and  exceptional  thing.  Among  the 
soldiers  praised  or  recommended  for  promotion 
by  British  officers  in  South  Africa  was  a  man  who 
"worked  hard  and  in  a  conscientious  manner," 


144  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

and  another  who  ''  walked  a  long  distance  when 
greatly  fatigued  "  ;  and  in  our  own  wars  innumer- 
able instances  of  the  same  sort  have  occurred. 
If  a  man  does  his  duty,  he  is  singled  out  for  some 
special  reward.  True  duty-doers  ask  no  such  re- 
ward. They  do  their  duty  for  the  sake  of  doing 
their  duty.  This  is  the  true  spirit  of  life,  and 
none  ever  displayed  it  so  gloriously  as  Jesus 
(John  5  :  41-44). 


XXXI 

JESUS  AND  LOVE 

1.  In  Jesus'  view,  the  spring  of  all  life  and 
duty  is  love.  God's  plan  of  salvation  for  men 
was  born  of  love  (John  3  :  16).  Jesus'  own  love 
for  men  was  proved  by  His  readiness  to  lay  down 
His  life  for  them  (John  15  :  13).  And  the  evi- 
dence and  power  and  sweetness  of  discipleship  are 
all  to  be  found  in  love  (John  13  :  35  ;  14  :  15, 
21,  23). 

2.  Between  Jesus  and  the  Father  we  are 
shown  in  the  gospel  the  beautiful  relations  of 
perfect  love.  He  kept  the  Father's  command- 
ments and  abode  in  His  love  (John  15  :  10). 
The  Father  loved  Him  and  trusted  Him  perfectly, 
which  is  love's  way  (John  3  :  35).  He  explains 
why  the  Father  loves  Him  so  (John  10  :  17).  He 
was  anxious  that  the  world  might  know  how  He 
loved  the  Father  (John  14:  31;.  And  He  rested 
in  the  confident  assurance  that  nothing  could 
disturb  a  love  that  had  lasted  from  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world  (John  1 7  :  24). 

3.  And  this  divine  love  existing  between  the 
Father  and  the  Son  became  through  Jesus  the 
possession  of  man.     We  are  to  abide  in  Christ's 

145 


146  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF    JESUS 

love  as  He  abides  in  God's  love  (John  15  :  10). 
But,  more  than  this,  Jesus  loved  us  even  as  the 
Father  loved  Him  (John  15  :  9).  And  the 
Father  loves  us  even  as  He  loves  Jesus  (John 
17:  23).  The  very  love  wherewith  the  Father 
loved  the  Son  may  be  in  us,  and  Jesus  prayed 
that  it  might  be  (John  17  :  26).  If  we  keep 
Christ's  words,  we  have  His  own  promise  that  the 
Father  will  love  us,  and  will  come  to  us  with 
Christ  and  make  His  abode  with  us  (John 
14:  23). 

4.  It  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world, 
accordingly,  that  Jesus'  teachings  should  lay 
primary  emphasis  on  loving.  He  bade  men  love 
their  enemies  (Matt.  5  :  44).  He  summarized 
the  whole  Old  Testament  law  in  one  command- 
ment of  love  (Matt.  22:37,  39).  And  He 
began  the  intimate  talk  of  the  last  evening  of  His 
life  with  what  He  called  a  new  commandment  to 
His  disciples,  *'That  ye  love  one  another,  even 
as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  an- 
other" (John  13:  34). 

5.  But  can  love  be  commanded?  Is  it  pos- 
sible to  love  upon  order?  Some  say,  *'No." 
"Brethren,  I  will  tell  you  plainly,"  said  Maurice, 
"I  find  far  greater  difficulty  in  this  command- 
ment than  in  all  of  the  rest  of  the  discourse. 
...  If  it  is  a  mere  precept  written  in  a  book, 
it  is  the  cruelest  precept  that  was  ever  uttered. 
Men  say  so  when  they  are  honest.     They  say : 


JESUS   AND   LOVE  I47 

Tell  me  to  do  anything  but  this.  We  will  give, 
if  it  is  necessary,  ten  thousand  rivers  of  oil,  the 
first-born  of  our  body  for  the  sin  of  our  soul. 
But  do  not  tell  us  to  love.  That  we  can  do  in 
obedience  to  no  statute,  from  dread  of  no  punish- 
ment !  Even  so,  if  God  demands  that  we  should 
bring  this  offering  to  Him,  or  perish,  we  must 
perish."  But  this  view  of  Maurice's  rests  with 
some  upon  a  wrong  conception  of  love.  It  is  not 
a  matter  of  temperament,  of  taste,  of  emotion.  It 
is  a  matter  of  will.  It  does  not  require  lovable- 
ness  in  the  object  of  love.  It  requires  simply  the 
will  to  love  in  us.  To  be  sure,  it  is  hard,  and 
therefore  God  did  not  leave  it  a  mere  statute. 
Jesus'  own  words  imply  that  we  are  to  love  others 
in  this  supreme  way  by  virtue  of  His  love.  "  I 
have  loved  you  to  the  end  that  ye  love  one  an- 
other," or  "into  loving  one  another."  Maurice 
adds  this  thought :  *'  But  if  God  says,  *  My  name 
and  nature  is  love :  My  Son  has  manifested  My 
name  and  nature  to  you;  you  are  created  in 
Him  j  you  are  created  to  obey  Him ;  you  need 
not  resist  Him ;  His  spirit  is  with  you  that  you 
may  do  His  will  as  He  has  done  Mine,'  then 
the  precept  is  not  cruel,  but  blessed  and  divine." 
6.  It  is  our  duty  to  love.  We  cannot  will  to 
have  emotions,  but  we  can  will  to  love.  Love  is 
the  habit  of  unselfishness,  of  tenderness,  of  min- 
istry rooted  in  the  will  and  resting  there  on  the 
solidities  of  duty.     And  such  love  as  this  is  the 


148  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

ultimate  and  conclusive  test.  It  is  also  the  irre- 
sistible power  of  Christianity.  *'  By  this  shall  all 
men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples,  if  ye  have 
love  one  to  another  "  (John  13  :  35).  "  He  that 
loveth  not  knoweth  not  God,  for  God  is  love  " 
(I  John  4  :  8). 


XXXII 

JESUS   AND   WORK 

1.  Jesus  was  a  worker.  He  began  His  life  as 
a  tradesman,  earning  His  living  at  a  carpenter's 
bench  (Mark  6:  :^).  Later  He  left  His  trade  to 
become  a  teacher,  but  He  was  a  worker  still. 
The  very  divinity  of  His  nature  expressed  itself  in 
work.  "My  father  worketh,  and  I  work"  (John 
5  :  17).  A  mighty  constraint  rested  upon  Him 
in  this.  "  I  must  work  the  works  of  Him  that 
sent  me  while  it  is  day ;  for  the  night  cometh, 
when  no  man  can  work"  (John  9:4).  And 
work  was  nourishment  to  Him.  *'  My  meat  is  to 
do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  and  to  finish 
His  work"  (John  4  :  34). 

2.  Jesus  appealed  constantly  to  His  works, 
their  number  and  character,  as  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  His  claims  (John  5  :  36  ;  10  125,  37,  38 ; 
14  :  11).  He  said  that  He  had  done  many  works 
and  good  ones  (John  10  :  32) ;  works  such  as  no 
other  man  had  ever  done  (John  1 5  :  24)  ;  works 
also  not  of  His  own,  but  obviously  God's  (John 
9:  3;  10:  25,  37).  And  this  work  did  make  a 
profound  impression  (Matt.  11:  2,  20).  People 
asked,   "  Whence   hath   this   man   these   mighty 

149 


150  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

works?"  and  they  blasphemously  attributed  His 
power  to  the  presence  of  evil  power  in  His  life 
(Matt.  13 :  54).  Others  praised  God  for  the 
mighty  works  they  saw  Him  do  (Luke  19  :  37). 

3.  Jesus  enjoined  upon  His  disciples  the  spirit 
of  untiring  work.  Men  wondered  at  it  in  Him. 
He  was  so  pressed  as  to  take  no  time  to  eat 
(Mark  3:  20,  21).  The  zeal  of  His  Father's 
house  ate  Him  up  (John  2  :  17).  And  He  sum- 
moned others  to  like  activity.  The  world's  at- 
tention should  be  attracted  to  their  good  works, 
and  thus  to  the  working  God  who  inspired  them 
(Matt.  5  :  16).  Work  done  for  self-advertise- 
ment He  despised  (Matt.  23  :  3,  5).  His  par- 
ables are  parables  of  activity.  ''Son,"  says  the 
father,  ''go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard" 
(Matt.  21  :  28).  To  every  man  the  householder, 
who  was  like  the  King  of  the  kingdom,  left  his 
own  personal  work  (Mark  13  :  34).  If  Jesus  had 
a  work  of  God  to  do,  so  also  have  we  (John 
17  :  18;  20:  21.  And,  if  no  one  else  could  do 
His  work  for  Him,  so  no  one  else  can  do  ours  for 
us.  And  as  truly  as  Jesus  could,  may  we  expect 
help  from  God  in  doing  not  our  work,  but  His 
work  apportioned  to  us  (John  14:  10). 

4.  When  the  Jews  asked  Jesus  what  work  they 
should  do  in  order  to  work  God's  work.  He  re- 
plied, "  This  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  " 
(John  6  :  28,  29).  There  is  profound  and  ele- 
mentary truth  here.     To  believe  on  Jesus  Christ 


JESUS   AND   WORK  I51 

is  the  essential  preliminary  to  any  true  work  for 
God.  If  we  refuse  to  do  this  first,  we  can  ac- 
quire no  competence  to  do  other  work.  But,  be- 
ginning here  as  Jesus  said,  there  is  no  limit  that 
can  be  set.  "  He  that  believeth  on  Me,  the 
works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also  "  (John  14 :  12). 
Christians  are  intended  to  be  doers  of  the  word, 
not  hearers  or  believers  only  (Jas.  i  :  23,  25). 
The  Greek  word  for  <Moer"  is  the  one  from 
which  our  word  **  poet  "  is  derived.  It  means  a 
maker,  a  performer,  a  man  who  accomplishes 
things.     That  is  what  every  Christian  is  to  do. 

5.  And  Jesus  finished  His  work  (John  17  :  4). 
We  never  do  that.  We  do  not  complete  what  we 
begin.  We  fail  before  we  reach  the  end.  What 
we  do  is  roughly  and  imperfectly  done.  As 
Leonard  Huxley  says  of  his  father,  ''  Though  he 
carried  about  with  him,  as  does  every  man  of  his 
caliber  and  experience,  a  heavy  load  of  fragments 
of  inquiry  begun  but  never  finished,  and  a  heavy 
load  of  ideas  for  promising  investigations  never 
so  much  as  even  touched,  though  his  love  of 
science  and  belief  in  it  might  never  have  wavered^ 
though  he  never  doubted  the  value  of  the  results 
which  further  research  would  bring  to  him,  there 
was  something  working  within  him  which  made 
his  hand  when  turned  to  anatomical  science  so 
heavy  that  he  could  not  lift  it."  But  Jesus 
finished  the  work  which  was  given  Him  to  do. 
He  said  so,  and  His  words  express  with  a  sublime 


152  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

candor  the  feeling  of  a  perfectly  pure  conscience. 
''  He  does  not  perceive  in  His  life  at  this  supreme 
moment  either  any  evil  committed  or  even  any 
good  omitted,"  says  Godet.  "  The  duty  of  every 
hour  has  been  perfectly  fulfilled."  None  of  us 
can  speak  thus. 


XXXIII 

JESUS   AND   THE   TEACHING   OF  TRUTH 

1.  Jesus  began  His  ministry  as  a  teacher,  and 
a  teacher  He  was  all  His  life.  This  was  one 
of  the  names  most  frequently  applied  to  Him. 
Take  any  one  of  the  Gospels  and  observe  the 
passages  wherein  Jesus  is  called  teacher  (Luke 
6:40;  7:40;  8:49;  9:38;  10:25;  11:45; 
12:  13;  18:  18;  19:  39;  20:  21,  28,39;  21:7; 
22  :  11).  In  each  case  the  Greek  word  translated 
'< master"  in  these  passages  means  *< teacher." 
Jesus  called  Himself  by  the  same  name,  *<  Ye 
call  Me  teacher  and  Lord,  and  ye  say  well,  for  so 
I  am"  (John  13:  13).  And  the  followers  of 
Jesus  were  called  disciples  or  learners.  In  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew  alone  the  word  occurs  at  least 
seventy  times.  Jesus  was  supremely  a  teacher. 
Prominent  Jews  who  were  unprepared  to  recog- 
nize Him  as  the  Messiah  were  at  once  ready  to 
acknowledge  His  rare  qualities  as  a  teacher  (John 
3:2;  Mark  12  :  14). 

2.  Jesus  is  nowhere  called  a  preacher,  yet  He 
did  preach  as  well  as  teach,  ''And  Jesus  went 
about  in  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  synagogues, 
and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  "  (Matt. 

'55 


154  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

4:  23;  II  :  i).  Four  different  words  are  used 
in  the  Gospels  for  "  preaching,"  and  all  are  trans- 
lated by  the  same  English  word.  The  word  used 
in  Luke  9:  60,  meaning  *'to  tell  thoroughly,"  is 
used  only  there  in  the  Gospels.  Another  word, 
meaning  to  "tell  good  news,"  is  used  in  Matt. 
11:  5;  Luke  I  :  19;  2:  10;  3:  18;  4:  18,  43; 
7:22;  8  :  I  j  9:6;  16:16;  20  :  I.  The  word 
used  elsewhere  with  one  exception,  and  more  fre- 
quently than  the  others,  means  to  ^'cry  or  pro- 
claim as  a  herald."  The  one  exception  is  Mark 
2:2,  where  the  simple  word  for  teaching  is  trans- 
lated ''preaching,"  though  elsewhere  it  is  usually 
translated  ''  say  "  or  ''  speak."  In  the  main,  the 
preaching  of  Jesus  was  just  the  dignified  conver- 
sation of  a  teacher. 

3.  Jesus  certainly  did  speak  to  the  people  and 
to  the  disciples  in  connected  discourses,  but  His 
preaching  was  in  the  main  pedagogical.  He 
taught  the  people  (Mark  i:  21,  22;  2:  13; 
4:  I,  2;  6:  2,  6,  30,  34;  9:  31  ;  10  :  i ;  11  :  17; 
12:  35).  Teaching  is  described  as  His  regular 
custom  (Mark  10  :  i).  And  He  said  Himself  to 
those  who  came  to  arrest  Him,  *'  I  was  daily  with 
you  in  the  temple  teaching "  (Mark  14 :  49). 
And  to  the  high  priest,  "  I  ever  taught  in  the 
synagogue  and  in  the  temple"  (John  18:  20). 
He  constantly  submitted  to  question  and  inter- 
ruption. Notice  this  in  His  last  discourses  (John 
^3-  3^j   14'  S)  S,  22;   16:  17,  18).     Notice  it 


JESUS  AND  THE  TEACHING  OF  TRUTH     I55 

in  the  discourse  which  followed  the  miracle  of 
the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  (John  6  :  28,  30, 
34,  41,  42,  52,  60),  and  in  the  discourse  in 
John  8. 

4.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  was  full  of  life  and 
reality.  He  stood  among  men,  and  spoke  to 
them  in  the  terms  of  their  common  thought  and 
surroundings,  catching  up  present  suggestions  of 
spiritual  truths.  What  prompted,  for  example, 
the  figures  used  in  Matt.  5:  14;  John  3  :  8; 
4:  34,35;  6:  35;  7:  37,  38;  8:  12;  15:  1-7? 
And  notice  how  He  constantly  makes  use  of  com- 
mon incidents  to  draw  from  them  or  rest  upon 
them  some  new  teaching. 

5.  Now,  the  method  of  Jesus,  which  was  a 
good  method  in  His  day,  is  a  good  method  still. 
There  is  a  place  for  formal,  connected,  uninter- 
rupted statement  of  Christian  truth ;  but  it  is  a 
small  place  in  comparison  with  that  for  colloquial 
teaching,  where  the  teacher  asks  questions  to 
make  sure  that  the  pupil  will  understand  and 
where  the  pupil  asks  questions  to  make  sure  that 
he  may  be  understood.  Of  course,  the  set  and 
uninterrupted  discourse  is  easier,  but  it  is  less 
valuable.  Most  of  it  is  forgotten.  The  average 
hearer  cannot  take  it  in  or  carry  it  away.  Men 
and  women  are  needed  who  will  learn  the  method 
of  Jesus  and  use  it.  This  was  what  the  early 
Church  did,  and  this  is  what  missionaries  do  now. 
All  wise  preachers  in  China  working  among  the 


156  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

people  outside  of  the  Church  know  that  Jesus  did 
as  He  did  because  He  knew  human  hearts.  As 
a  successful  missionary,  Dr.  Gibson,  of  Swatow, 
writes:  **The  missionary,  when  not  himself  en- 
gaged in  speaking,  can  use  his  time  profitably  in 
watching  the  audience,  marking  down  individuals 
who  may  seem  to  be  interested,  and  taking  mental 
note  of  questions  that  may  be  put,  or  objections 
that  may  be  raised.  ...  A  question  that  is  sin- 
cerely put  is  always  to  be  welcomed.  It  shows 
interest,  and  helps  the  speaker  in  adapting  what 
he  says  to  the  mind  of  his  audience."  It  would 
enliven  many  sermons  if  we  did  what  fresh  Chinese 
audiences  do — namely,  speak  out  and  ask  the 
preacher  questions.  But  the  lesson  from  Jesus' 
method  of  teaching  is  for  each  one  of  us  this, — 
to  go  out  ourselves  and  use  it  with  men.  We 
shall  learn  almost  as  much  as  we  shall  teach. 
We  are  to  make  our  common,  daily  conversation 
a  presentation  of  Christ  to  men  in  Jesus'  own 
simple  way. 


XXXIV 

JESUS  AND   HUMAN   SPEECH 

lo  What  has  been  said  of  Jesus  as  a  teacher 
shows  how  constantly  He  was  talking.  He  was 
a  great  doer,  and  He  condemned  severely  those 
whose  words  were  not  accredited  by  their  works 
(Matt.  7:21;  Luke  6  :  46)  ;  but  He  was  also 
always  talking  with  people  (Luke  24  :  19  ;  Matt. 
12  :  46;  Mark  6  :  50;  Luke  24:  32;  John  4:  27). 
At  the  end  He  told  His  disciples  a  change  was 
coming,  and  that  He  would  not  talk  much  with 
them  (John  14 :  30). 

2.  He  talked  of  what  was  worthy  and  profit- 
able. There  is  no  record  of  trivial  conversation. 
He  was  always  grave  and  serious,  though  sympa- 
thetic and  kindly.  At  feasts  He  turned  the  talk 
to  useful  themes  (Luke  11  :  37-40).  He  spoke 
of  the  things  that  He  knew  about  (John  3  :  11) ; 
of  the  things  of  His  own  nature  (John  3  :  34). 
His  very  words,  He  said,  were  spirit  and  life 
(John  6  :  6^).  They  were  not  words  of  self-seek- 
ing or  self-interest  (John  7  :  18).  He  spoke  what 
He  had  seen  with  God  (John  8  :  38),  and  what 
God  gave  Him  to  speak  (John  8  :  28  ;  1 2  :  49,  50 ; 
14  :  10).  Even  His  enemies  testified  that  no  man 
had  ever  spoken  as  Jesus  did  (John  7  :  46). 
'57 


158  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

3.  But  no  one  ever  kept  such  silences  as  Jesus 
kept.  He  declined  to  say  one  word  in  reply- 
to  the  perjurers  before  the  Sanhedrin  (Matt, 
26 :  62,  6^).  Before  Pilate  He  answered  noth- 
ing to  the  accusation  of  the  chief  priests  (Mark 
15  :  3-5).  He  refused  to  open  His  lips  before 
the  murderer  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  immoral 
Herod  (Luke  23  :  8-1 1).  Yet  again  He  gave 
Pilate  not  a  word  of  answer  when  Pilate,  vacil- 
lating and  cowardly,  seeking  some  loophole  of 
escape,  took  Him  into  the  palace  for  the  third 
time  (John  19  :  7-9).  To  have  spoken  at  these 
times  would  have  been  waste  and  weakness,  and 
the  strong  Son  of  God,  as  a  lamb  before  his 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  opened  not  His  mouth. 
And  throughout  His  whole  ministry  Jesus  was 
obliged  to  be  silent  as  well  as  to  speak.  He  told 
His  disciples,  to  whom  He  could  speak  most 
freely,  that  there  was  much  that  He  could  say, 
but  would  not,  simply  because  no  one  was  ready 
for  it  (John  16:  12).  Meditate  upon  the  things 
that  Jesus  might  have  said,  but  did  not,  in  the 
way  of  revelation,  of  the  origin  of  evil,  of  the 
relation  of  human  freedom  to  divine  sovereignty, 
of  the  future  life,  and  in  the  way  of  rebuke,  of 
Judas's  treachery,  of  Peter's  denial,  of  Philip's 
slowness,  of  Thomas's  scepticism,  of  the  disciples' 
ambitions  and  quarrelsomeness,  of  the  blindness 
of  the  people,  of  the  wickedness  of  sin. 

4.  Knowing  so  well  the  right  use  of  speech. 


JESUS    AND    HUMAN    SPEECH  1 59 

Jesus  gave  His  disciples  explicit  directions.  Their 
great  business  was  to  be  to  talk  to  men  about  Him 
(Luke  9:2;  Mark  i6  :  15  ;  John  15  :  27).  What 
they  had  learned  from  Him  privately  they  were 
to  publish  abroad  (Matt.  10  :  27).  And  in  speak- 
ing they  were  to  expect  real  help  from  the  Holy 
Spirit  (Matt.  10 ;  20).  They  were  not  to  pre- 
sume in  this  matter,  however ;  for  every  idle 
word  men  were  to  give  account  in  the  judgment 
(Matt.  12  :  36).  For  all  shame  at  Christ's  words 
they  were  to  receive  shame  (Mark  8  :  38).  All 
their  own  words  were  to  be  made  public  (Luke 
12  :  3) ;  and  by  their  words  men  were  in  the  judg- 
ment to  be  justified  or  condemned  (Matt.  12  :  37). 
And  some  words  can  never  be  forgiven  (Luke 
12  :  10). 

5.  There  was  nothing  arbitrary  in  this.  Jesus 
taught  that  the  words  of  men  are  but  expressions 
of  their  characters.  For  a  time,  of  course,  a 
man  might  conceal  his  true  character,  and  speak 
words  which  were  not  sincere,  but  at  the  last  the 
real  man  within  will  betray  himself  in  his  words 
(Luke  6  :  45).  An  earthy  character  will  issue  in 
the  conversation  of  a  man  of  the  earth  (John 
3  :  31 ;  7  :  18).  On  the  other  hand,  the  attesta- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit  when  He  came  would 
be  His  unceasing  conversation  about  Christ 
(John  16 :  13). 

6.  Would  we  feel  comfortable  if  Christ  should 
overhear  our  talk  ?     Of  course.  He  does  overhear. 


l60  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

but  we  persuade  ourselves  that  He  does  not,  be- 
cause we  do  not  see  Him.  Do  we  use  the  words 
we  would  use  in  His  presence?  The  apostles 
found  it  necessary  to  warn  the  early  Christians 
often  in  this  matter  (Eph.  4:  31 ;  i  Pet.  2:1; 
\  Jas.  4:  11;  Tit.  3:2);  and  we  need  these 
warnings  quite  as  much.  Our  conversation  is  so 
often  frivolous  or  unkind  or  even  worse.  Flattery, 
so  sternly  condemned  in  the  Bible  (cite  the  pas- 
sages), gossip,  tatthng  (i  Tim.  5  :  13),  exaggera- 
tion, flippancy,  garrulity,  uncleanness,  evil  sug- 
gestiveness,  falsehood,  are  a  few  of  the  many 
sins  of  speech  of  which  we  are  guilty.  Humor 
and  pleasantry  and  praise  are  right  and  worthy 
things  ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  let  them  become 
coarse,  common,  or  fulsome.  Speak  as  you 
would  speak  in  the  hearing  of  Jesus.  "Use  no 
v/ord  in  conversation  that  you  would  be  ashamed 
of  in  print,"  said  Wendell  Philips.  Change  the 
last  three  words  of  this  quotation  to  ''to  have 
Jesus  hear." 

The  power  of  speech  is  one  of  God's  greatest 
gifts.  It  is  meant  for  noble  use.  The  example 
of  Jesus  reveals  to  us  what  is  noble  use  of  speech. 


XXXV 

JESUS   AND   DISEASE 

1.  Jesus  healed  sickness  and  disease.  ThiL 
was  part  of  His  ministry.  He  went  about  the 
cities  aiid  villages  ''  teaching  in  their  synagogues, 
and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and 
healing  all  manner  of  disease  and  all  manner  of 
sickness"  (Matt.  9:35;  Mark  1:34;  Matt. 
4:  23,  24).  This  undoubtedly  drew  many  of 
those  who  came  to  Him.  They  came  both  to 
hear  and  to  be  healed  of  their  diseases  (Luke 
5:  15;  6:  17).  And  friends  carried  their  sick 
to  Him  (Matt.  14 :  35).  Make  a  list  of  all  the 
diseases  which  Jesus  healed. 

2.  Jesus  recognized  the  fact  of  disease.  He 
did  not  tell  people  that  sickness  is  unreal  and 
imaginary.  He  spoke  of  it  in  just  the  same  way 
in  which  He  spoke  of  the  sea,  or  of  the  synagogue, 
or  of  food,  or  of  a  flock  of  sheep,  or  of  any  other 
fact.  "Woman,"  He  said,  ''thou  art  loosed 
from  thine  infirmity"  (Luke  13:  12).  He  ac- 
cepted the  fact  of  the  sickness  of  Lazarus,  and 
spoke  of  it  with  full  recognition  of  its  reality  (John 
II  :  4).  He  sent  His  disciples  to  preach  the 
kingdom,  and  to  heal  the  sick,  and  to  cleanse 

161 


l62  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

the  lepers  (Matt.  lo  :  7,  8).  If  the  kingdom  was 
not  imaginary,  neither  were  the  sickness  and  the 
leprosy.  The  disciples  never  gained  from  Jesus 
the  idea  that  disease  is  purely  a  matter  of  mental 
notion,  to  be  denied  and  never  spoken  of.  "A 
certain  man  was  sick,  named  Lazarus,"  says  John, 
who  would  surely  have  been  struck  with  the  idea 
of  the  nothingness  and  non-existence  of  disease 
(John  II  :  i).  ''A  certain  centurion's  servant 
was  sick,"  says  Luke  (Luke  7:2).  And,  speak- 
ing of  a  future  judgment  of  life,  Jesus  says  that 
He  will  consider  then  everything  done  to  needy 
souls  as  done  to  Him.  ^'I  was  sick,  and  ye 
visited  Me"  (Matt.  25  :  36;  cf.  9 :  12). 

3.  He  sympathized  deeply  with  the  sufferings 
of  men,  and  not  one  word  of  His  supports  the 
error  that  because  evil  is  not  truth  it  is  "  untrue, 
and,  if  untrue,  unreal ' ' ;  that  evil  is  a  lie,  and 
therefore  "nothing  and  the  father  of  nothing- 
ness." Jesus  came  to  destroy  not  nothingness, 
but  something  terribly  real.  And  so  coming  He 
entered  really  into  our  human  life  and  shared  its 
pains.  He  was  touched  with  the  feeling,  not  of 
our  nothingnesses,  but  of  our  weaknesses  (Heb. 
4:  15).  He  "took  our  infirmities  and  bore  our 
sicknesses  "  (Matt.  8  :  17).  But  it  does  not  fol- 
low that  Jesus  abolished  disease.  There  are 
those  who  admit  its  reality,  but  believe  that  Jesus 
destroyed  it  for  those  who  will  have  faith  in  Him, 
not  as  Saviour  from  their  sins  only,  but  also  as 


JESUS    AND    DISEASE  1 63 

Healer  from  their  sicknesses.  Jesus  undoubtedly 
made  His  life  available  for  us,  and  that  life  is  to 
penetrate  and  fill  all  of  our  life ;  but,  first,  Jesus 
holds  out  no  more  promise  of  healing  sickness 
without  our  cooperation  than  of  saving  us  without 
it.  Our  wills  and  our  constant  effort  are  de- 
manded by  Him  (John  5  :  40 ;  8  :  12).  And,  sec- 
ondly, He  does  not  promise  to  deliver  from  bodily 
disease  at  all.  He  did  deliver  many  from  it,  and 
He  bade  His  disciples  to  heal,  but  there  is  no 
universal  promise  of  physical  healing  (cf.  Phil. 
2  :  26,  27  ;  3:21;   2  Tim.  4  :  20). 

4.  Jesus  can  heal  as  miraculously  to-day  as 
ever,  and  may  do  so.  But  not  even  when  He 
was  here  did  He  refrain  from  the  use  of  means  in 
the  miracles.  He  fed  the  multitudes  with  loaves 
and  fishes  which  were  provided  (Matt.  14  :  17,  19 ; 
15  :  34-36).  It  was  His  blessing  that  did  it,  but 
He  used  the  loaves  and  fishes.  He  could  walk 
on  the  sea,  but  He  was  accustomed  to  take  a  boat 
(Mark  3:9;  Matt.  8 :  23 ;  9:1;  14:  13; 
15  :  39).  It  is  a  small  matter,  but  He  constantly 
used  His  hands  in  healing,  touching  people,  lift- 
ing them  up  (Luke  4 :  40 ;  Mark  5:41;  6:5; 
John  9:6).  Jesus  lived  a  normal  life,  using  His 
bodily  powers  and  recognizing  the  divine  signifi- 
cance of  the  provision  of  faculties  for  use  and  of 
means  adapted  to  the  accomplishment  of  ends. 
But  some  say  that  disease  is  abnormal,  and  that 
in  dealing  with  it  means  are  to  be  dispensed  with, 


164  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

although,  of  course,  means  must  be  used  in  other 
things,  such  as  the  use  of  food  for  strength.  But 
disease  is  no  more  abnormal  than  accident. 

5.  We  are  prone  to  make  too  much  of  our 
bodies,  and  we  draw  too  sharp  a  line  between 
God's  activity  in  the  orderly  processes  of  nature 
and  His  more  vivid  working  as  if  by  special  in- 
tervention. It  is  distorting  the  gospel  to  make  it 
a  magical  panacea  for  disease.  It  is  misleading 
to  regard  a  miraculous  healing  as  any  more  the 
work  of  God  than  the  slow  and  regular  knitting 
of  a  broken  bone.  It  is  God  at  work  in  each 
case.  He  makes  the  sun  to  rise  and  set  daily, 
and  His  power  is  as  really  at  work  there  as  it  was 
when  He  wrought  a  miracle  for  Joshua  in  the 
valley  of  Aijalon.  We  do  not  honor  God  when 
we  insist  upon  His  working  for  us  in  some  special 
way  that  we  define.  We  honor  Him  best  when 
we  do  all  we  can  by  the  use  of  means  and  the 
use  of  faith  to  accomplish  the  ends  that  we  be- 
lieve will  be  pleasing  to  Him  and  useful  to  Him 
in  His  kingdom. 


XXXVI 

JESUS   AND   DEATH 

1.  Those  who  deny  the  fact  of  sickness  can- 
not deny  the  fact  of  death.  And  those  who 
affirm  that  sickness  is  due  to  lack  of  faith,  and 
that  if  we  would  claim  Christ  as  our  health  we 
should  be  well,  shrink  from  going  on  to  the  log- 
ical conclusion  and  seeking  to  escape  from  death 
by  faith.  Death  will  not  respect  any  delusion. 
It  is  the  stern  and  unavoidable  fact  at  the  end  of 
human  life.  Jesus  accepted  it  as  part  of  the 
order  of  the  world  into  which  He  came.  *'  Laz- 
arus is  dead,"  He  said  simply.  (Matt.  lo :  ?i; 
16:28;  John  6:49,  5^  ^  II  •4>  14^  Mark 
12  :  25  ;  Luke  16  :  31). 

2.  Sharing  our  human  lot,  Jesus  shared  our 
mortality.  Very  early  in  His  ministry  He  began 
to  prepare  His  disciples  for  His  death  (John 
2:  22).  And  they  expected  Him  to  die  (John 
II  :  16).  It  was  His  many  strange  hints  about 
His  death  that  they  did  not  understand,  and  also 
how  if  He  died  He  would  be  able  to  do  what 
they  expected  of  Him  (Luke  9:22;  17:25; 
John  12:  33;  18:  32;  Luke  24:  21).  Their 
perplexities  were  resolved  in  due  time,  but  not 

165 


1 66  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

before  they  had  stood  aghast  before  the  cross, 
though  afar  off,  and  seen  that  life  quenched  and 
the  body  taken  down  and  laid  in  a  grave  (John 
19:31-42). 

3.  But  Jesus  was  not  afraid  of  death.  He 
stood  calmly  before  angry  crowds  who  took  up 
stones  to  stone  Him,  and  asked  them  quietly, 
"  Many  good  works  have  I  showed  you  from  the 
Father;  for  which  of  those  works  do  ye  stone 
Me?"  (John  10:32.)  He  was  the  most  com- 
posed person  present  at  the  time  of  His  arrest, 
and  was  obliged  Himself  to  reassure  His  fright- 
ened captors  (John  18:1-8).  He  is  the  one 
dignified  and  restful  figure  in  the  surging  scenes 
of  His  trial  and  death.  Some,  however,  see  in 
the  agony  in  Gethsemane  a  temporary  weakening 
on  the  part  of  Jesus  and  a  reluctance  to  die. 
But  Jesus  in  the  garden  was  shrinking  from  the 
thought,  not  of  death  on  the  cross,  but  of  death 
before  the  cross.  The  strain  through  which  He 
was  passing  was  so  great  that  He  almost  feared 
He  would  break  under  it,  and  He  cried  to  God 
to  save  Him  from  death,  and  was  heard  (Heb. 
5:7).  When  death  came,  as  He  had  all  through 
His  ministry  anticipated  it.  He  met  it  trustfully, 
comforting  others  (Luke  23  :  43 ;  John  19:  27), 
and  bidding  the  women  of  Jerusalem  not  to  weep 
for  Him  (Luke  23  :  28).  He  was  going  into  His 
Father's  arms  (Luke  23  :  46). 

4.     Jesus  was  the  Lord  of  death.     He  raised 


JESUS    AND    DEATH  167 

the  dead  (Matt,  ii  :  5).  And  He  appealed  to 
this  as  Messianic  evidence.  He  raised  the 
daughter  of  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  (Luke 
8:  49-56),  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain  (Luke 
7:  14,  15),  and  Lazarus  (John  11).  He  broke 
the  chains  of  death  for  Himself.  It  was  not 
possible  for  Him  to  be  holden  of  it  (Acts  2  :  24), 
Through  death  He  brought  to  nought  him  that 
had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil,  that 
He  might  deliver  all  them  who  through  fear  of 
death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage 
(Heb.  2 :  14,  15).  And  the  evidence  of  the 
resurrection  is  significant  evidence.  Indeed,  we 
cannot  but  believe  that  the  resurrection  must  have 
followed  Jesus'  death.  "  It  is  said,"  says  Godet, 
"  that  such  a  fact  would  overthrow  the  laws  of 
nature.  But  what  if  it  were,  on  the  contrary,  the 
law  of  nature  when  thoroughly  understood  which 
required  this  fact?  Death  is  the  wages  of  sin. 
If  Jesus  lived  here  below  as  innocent  and  pure,  if 
He  lived  in  God  and  of  God,  as  He  Himself 
says  in  John  6:  57,  life  must  be  the  crown  of 
this  unique  Conqueror.  No  doubt  He  may  have 
given  Himself  up  voluntarily  to  death  to  fulfill  the 
law  which  condemns  sinful  humanity,  but  might 
not  this  state  of  death,  affecting  a  nature  per- 
fectly sound  morally  and  physically,  meet  in  it 
exceptional  forces  capable  of  reacting  victoriously 
against  all  the  powers  of  dissolution  ?  As  neces- 
sarily as  a  life  of  sin  ends  in  death,  so  necessarily 


l68  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

does  perfect  holiness  end  in  life,  and  consequently, 
if  there  has  been  death,  in  resurrection.  Natural 
law,  therefore,  far  from  being  contrary  to  this 
fact,  is  the  thing  which  requires  it."  And  be- 
cause Christ  rose  we  shall  rise  also  (John  14 :  19; 
2  Cor.  13  :  4). 

5.  And  Jesus  never  encouraged  either  fear  or 
terror  at  death.  He  spoke  of  it  as  a  sleep  (Matt. 
9 :  24;  John  II  :  11). 

"Why   be   afraid  of   death  as  though  your  life  were 
breath  ? 
Death  but  anoints  your  eyes  with  clay.     O   glad 
surprise ! 
Is  sleep  a  thing  you  dread?    Yet  sleeping  you  are 
dead 
Till  you  awake  and  rise,  here  or  beyond  the  skies." 

We  forget  the  example  and  bearing  and  teaching 
and  spirit  of  Jesus  when  we  wail  and  mourn  as 
those  that  have  no  hope.  We  have  nothing  to 
fear  in  death.  It  is  the  gateway  to  what  is 
greater.  *'I  have  a  desire  to  depart- and  to  be 
there,"  said  Paul. 


XXXVII 

JESUS   AND   HEAVEN 

1.  Jesus  frequently  spoke  of  heaven.  The 
language  that  He  used  forbids  the  idea  that 
heaven  is  merely  a  state  of  mind.  He  uses  the 
term  to  describe  the  natural  heavens  (Matt. 
5:  i8j  24:  35;  Mark  13:  25;  14:  62;  Luke 
1 7  :  24),  but  for  the  most  part  His  use  is  spiritual, 
referring  to  the  place  where  God's  home  is  and 
where  God's  true  children  are  to  be,  and  whose 
principles  are  to  be  accepted  by  men. 

2.  Heaven  is  God's  place.  "Your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,"  says  Jesus  (Matt.  5  :  16,  45  ; 
6:1,  9;  7:  II,  21;  10:  32,  ^^;  12:50; 
16:  17;  18:  10,  14,  19).  It  is  God's  throne 
(Matt.  5  :  34),  and  He  is  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth  (Matt.  11  :  25).  And  there  the  angels  of 
the  children  do  ever  behold  the  face  of  the 
Father  (Matt.  18  :  10). 

3.  It  was  from  heaven  that  Jesus  came.  '*  I 
came  down  from  heaven,"  He  said  (John  6  :  38). 
He  was  able  to  make  revelation  to  men  of  that 
knowledge  which  no  man  can  climb  to  heaven  to 
gain  because  that  knowledge  was  His  by  im- 
mediate vision.     He  had  come  out  from  it  (John 

169 


170  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

3:  12,  13).  Out  of  heaven  the  true  bread  of  life 
was  given  by  the  Father,  and  Jesus  was  that 
bread  (John  6:  ^^,  41,  50,  51).  And  some- 
where into  the  heavens  Jesus  went  (Luke  24  :  51; 
Acts  I  :  9-1 1). 

4.  The  kingdom  which  Jesus  was  striving  to 
estabhsh  among  men  He  called  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  or  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  meant  by 
this  many  things,  but  chiefly  human  life  made 
subject  to  those  principles  which  prevail  in  heaven. 
'<  Thy  kingdom  come,"  He  taught  His  disciples 
to  pray,  ''Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on 
earth  "  (Matt.  6  :  10).  Make  a  list  of  all  the  pas- 
sages in  which  the  two  phrases  "  the  kingdom  of 
heaven"  and  "the  kingdom  of  God"  occur. 
The  kingdom,  said  Jesus,  belongs  already  to  the 
poor  in  spirit  and  to  those  who  endure  persecu- 
tion for  righteousness'  sake  (Matt.  5  :  3,  10). 
Greatness  and  littleness  in  the  kingdom  are  mat- 
ters of  obedience  to  the  King's  commands  (Matt. 
5  :  19),  and  of  the  spirit  of  ministry  (Luke 
22  :  24-27),  and  humility  (Matt.  18  :  i-io).  To 
be  true  children  of  the  King  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  we  must  love  our  enemies  with  the  wide- 
ness  of  His  love  (Matt.  5  :  45).  To  enter  this 
kingdom,  we  must  do  the  will  of  Jesus'  Father 
(Matt.  7:21).  It  was  Jesus  who  brought  His 
kingdom  near  men  (Matt.  4:  17;  10:  7).  To 
be  little  in  this  kingdom  is  to  be  greater  than 
the    greatest    of    men    (Matt.    11  :    n).      The 


JESUS    AND    HEAVEN  I7I 

spirit  of  a  little  child  is  the  real  spirit  of  heaven 
(Matt.  18:3;  19 :  14).  The  selfishness  of 
riches  and  their  chilling,  narrowing  influence 
are  almost  insuperable  barriers  in  the  way  of 
entrance  to  the  kingdom  (Matt.  19 :  23-26). 
There  are  many  strange  things  about  Jesus' 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  its  relation  to  our 
human  life,  but  Jesus  Himself  is  willing  to 
make  these  mysteries  clear  (Matt.  13  :  11).  And 
they  are  made  clear  to  those  who  by  a  law  of  the 
kingdom  see  disproportionately  clearer  the  more 
they  see  (Matt.  13  :  12). 

5.  Jesus  was  fond  of  speaking  parables  about 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Make  a  list  of  these 
parables,  and  study  them.  There  are  seven  of 
them  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Matthew.  And 
Jesus  resorts  to  parables  beginning,  **The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  likened  unto ' '  to  teach  that 

spirit  of  forgiveness  which  is  heavenly,  and  which 
therefore  must  be  brought  down  to  the  earth  (Matt. 
18  :  23-35),  that  free-handed,  impartial  love  which 
characterizes  the  Head  of  the  kingdom  (Matt. 
20  :  1-14),  and  His  urgent  and  universal,  though 
righteous,  mercy  (Matt.  22  :  2-14),  and  to  sum- 
mon us  to  watchful  care,  lest  coming  suddenly 
the  King  should  find  us  sleeping  (Matt.  25  :  1-13). 

6.  Heaven  is  evidently  represented  in  Jesus' 
teaching  as  a  place  or  sphere  (Matt.  6  :  20 ; 
28;  18;  Luke  15:  7).  But  how  else  could  it 
have  been  represented?    We  have  to  conceive 


172  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

things  in  terms  of  space  and  time,  and  Jesus  had 
no  way  of  revealing  truth  to  us  save  under  our 
human  forms  of  thought  and  terms  of  speech. 
That  is  the  prophet's  work,  to  make  known  the 
infinite  in  the  terms  of  space  and  the  eternal  in 
the  terms  of  time.  But  doubtless  when  we  break 
free  from  this  limited  life  of  ours  and  step  out 
into  the  life  of  freedom  beyond,  we  shall  know 
of  heaven  what  now  we  can  neither  know  nor 
conceive. 

7.  And  it  is  blessed  to  know  that  heaven  is 
the  life  into  which  we  go  out  of  this  life,  for 
"certainly,"  as  Wendt  says,  ''Jesus  regarded  the 
kingdom  of  God  as  being  also  a  future  and  heav- 
enly one"  (Matt.  7  :  20,  21 ;  16  :  19).  Our  names 
are  there  (Luke  10  :  20).  And  that  is  our 
Father's  house  (John  14  :  2).  That  is  enough  for 
us  to  know  of  heaven. 

«*  There  on  the  throne  the  Lamb  once  slain  is  seated, 
The  Shepherd's  joy  upon  His  holy  face ; 
While  countless  hosts,  their  warfare  all  completed, 
In  circling  bands  lift  ceaseless  songs  of  praise. 

«'  O  sorrowing  souls,  beneath  earth's  burden  bending, 
Lift  up  your  eyes  to  yonder  city  fair ; 
And  through  your  tears  let  praise  be  still  ascending 
For  rest  and  home  and  loved  ones  waiting  there." 


xxxvm 

JESUS   AND   HELL 

1.  There  is  a  spirit  of  hell  as  truly  as  a  spirit 
of  heaven.  Jesus  did  not  more  certainly  exem- 
plify the  latter  in  His  dealings  with  men  than 
men  illustrated  the  former  in  their  dealings  with 
Jesus.  He  told  the  Pharisees  that  their  conduct 
marked  them  as  the  children  of  hell  (Matt. 
23:  15)  j  and  once,  when  the  malignancy  and 
unbelief  of  the  Jews  was  especially  stubborn  and 
bitter,  He  called  them  plainly  the  children  of  the 
devil  (John  8  :  44).  Their  lies  and  lying  unrelia- 
bility of  character  proclaimed  their  parentage. 
The  spirit  of  hell  was  in  them. 

2.  There  are  two  different  words  translated 
"hell  "  in  the  New  Testament.  One  is  the  word 
meaning  literally  '*the  unseen  world,"  or  the 
place  of  departed  spirits.  Jesus  uses  it  three 
times,  but  each  time  with  more  significance  to  it 
than  merely  "unseen  world."  Once  He  uses  it 
as  synonymous  with  the  deepest  degradation 
(Matt.  II  :  23).  Here,  says  Bruce,  "the  refer- 
ence is  not  to  the  future  world,  but  to  the  judg- 
ment-day of  Israel,  in  which  Capernaum  would 
be  involved.     The  prophetic  eye  of  Jesus  sees 

173 


/74  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Capernaum  in  ruins  as  it  afterwards  saw  the 
beautiful  temple  demolished."  Again  Jesus  uses 
it  in  Matt.  i6  :  i8,  meaning  that  '*the  prison  of 
the  dead  shall  have  no  power  to  retain  the  mem- 
bers of  Christ's  Church."  And  again  in  Luke 
i6  :  23  Jesus  speaks  of  Hades,  but  applying  the 
term  to  that  part  of  the  unseen  world  where  de- 
parted spirits  wait,  as  Trench  says,  "  in  painful 
restraint  .  ,  .  reserved  to  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day," — Paradise,  where  Lazarus  was,  where 
Jesus  and  the  thief  were  on  the  very  day  of  the 
crucifixion  (Luke  23  :  43),  being  one  part  of  that 
unseen  place,  and  Hades,  where  Dives  was,  the 
other,  the  first  a  foretaste  of  heaven,  and  the 
latter  a  foretaste  of  hell.  This  would  seem  to  be 
the  natural  meaning  of  Jesus'  words. 

3.  The  other  word  translated  ''hell"  is  "Ge- 
henna." Gehenna  was  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  a 
gully  in  which  the  rubbish  and  garbage  of  Jeru- 
salem were  burned.  It  was  the  place  of  refuse 
and  destruction.  It  is  a  terribly  meaningful  term. 
That  is  what  hell  is,  and  Jesus  warns  men  against 
it.  Some  sins  are  to  be  feared  and  shunned 
because  they  lead  thither  (Matt.  5  :  22).  They 
lead  thither  because  they  are  of  the  spirit  of  that 
place,  and  those  who  commit  them  show  that  that 
is  their  place ;  and  to  their  own  place  they  go,  as 
Judas  went  (Acts  i  :  25).  The  one  whom  we 
are  to  fear  is  not  the  man  who  can  kill  our  bodies, 
but  He  who  can  bring  us  to  Gehenna  and  destroy 


JESUS    AND    HELL  1 75 

US  there, — God,  say  some  commentators;  the 
tempter,  say  others  (Matt.  lo  :  28).  But,  how- 
ever we  may  come  to  it,  it  is  a  dreadful  place, 
and  we  would  do  well  to  sacrifice  a  hand  or  a 
foot  or  an  eye  to  save  ourselves  from  it,  which  is 
Jesus'  vivid  way  of  saying  that  the  inner  life  must 
be  purged  from  all  hellish  tastes  and  dispositions 
(Mark  9 :  43,  45,  47). 

4.  "The  everlasting  fire"  is  one  of  Jesus' 
own  expressions.  Does  He  mean  "  everlasting  " 
and  does  He  mean  <<fire"?  He  certainly  does 
not  mean  material  fire.  Men  long  ago  perceived 
that,  but  He  does  mean  something  of  which  our 
word  ''fire"  is  the  best  metaphor,  something 
utterly  destructive  of  evil  and  impurity.  As  for 
''everlasting,"  as  Dean  Mansel  said,  "The 
metaphysical  discussion  as  to  the  distinction  be- 
tween time  and  eternity,  whether  the  latter  is  to 
be  regarded  with  Aristotle,  as  duration  without 
limit,  or,  with  Plato  and  many  Christian  writers 
after  him,  as  a  mode  of  existence  out  of  all  dura- 
tion and  succession,  is  a  question  insoluble  by  us, 
and  irrelevant  to  passages  like  the  present,  which 
speaks  not  of  the  absolute  nature  of  God,  but  of 
finite  existence,  which  cannot  be  dissociated  from 
duration  and  succession."  Jesus  was  obliged  to 
speak  in  terms  of  time.  What  those  terms  signify 
in  the  life  that  is  beyond  this,  where  there  is  no 
time,  we  shall  not  understand  until  we  get  there. 

5.  But  we  know   that   there  are  truth   and 


176  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

falsehood,  heaven  and  hell.  They  are  with  us 
now,  and  they  are  ahead  of  us  ;  and  some  people 
as  they  look  over  the  world,  find  it  easier  to  be- 
lieve in  the  latter  than  the  former.  As  Browning 
says  in  "Time's  Revenges,"  — 

"  There  may  be  heaven ; 
There  must  be  hell." 

But  we  who  believe  in  Jesus  know  that  there 
are  both  good  and  evil,  and  we  will  follow  Him 
to  the  land  where  the  pure  of  heart  gather, 
where,  — 

"  Beyond  our  sight  a  city  foursquare  lieth 

Above  the  clouds,  the  fogs,  and  mists  of  earth; 
And  none  but  souls  that  Jesus  purifieth 
Can  see  its  walls  or  hear  its  holy  mirth." 


XXXIX 

JESUS   AND   VERACITY 

1.  Jesus  said  that  He  was  the  truth  (John 
14:  6).  He  declared  that  He  spoke  the  truth 
(John  16:  7j.  He  came  to  bear  witness  to  the 
truth  (John  18  :  37).  The  Spirit  that  He  prom- 
ised to  send  after  He  was  gone  would  be,  He 
said,  the  Spirit  of  truth  (John  14:  17;  15  :  26; 
16:  13).  He  described  Himself  to  the  Jews  as 
"a  man  that  hath  told  you  the  truth"  (John 
8  :  40).  And  even  His  enemies  declared  their 
conviction  of  His  veracity  and  conscientiousness 
(Matt.  22:  16).  If  they  at  other  times  de- 
nounced Him  as  untruthful,  He  answered  with 
unequivocal  assertion  of  His  truthfulness  (John 
8  :  14,  16,  26).  To  truth  Jesus  gave  the  first 
place. 

2.  Jesus  did  not  err  in  this.     The  first  place 
does  not  belong  to  love  or  mercy  or  pity.     It  be- 
longs to  truth.     All  truth  is  of  God,  and  whoever  jjijj^v' ''' 
has  hold  of  even  a  bit  of  truth  holds  a  line  that  -    '-j^=^ 
leads  soon  or  late  to  Him.     He  is  God  of  truth,  '^'    p 
true  God.     *'  O  Lord  God  of  truth,"  the  Psalmist  ^'    ''"  "^ 
calls  Him  (Ps.  31  :  5).     And  as  we  see  the  truth 

and  speak  it  we  draw  near  Him.     *<God  Him- 
177 


178  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

self  is  truth,"  said  Milton  in  Areopagifica,  *'m 
propagating  which,  as  men  display  a  greater  in- 
tegrity and  zeal,  they  approach  nearer  to  the 
similitude  of  God  and  possess  a  greater  portion 
of  His  love." 

3.  The  truth  in  Jesus'  view  was  both  a  thing 
to  be  told  and  a  thing  to  be  done.  '^He  that 
doeth  the  truth,"  He  said,  "  cometh  to  the  light " 
(John  3  :  21).  Likewise  the  Bible  speaks  of  do- 
ing or  making  lies  (Rev.  21  :  27).  A  man  can 
lie  by  his  life  as  well  as  by  his  lips,  and  he  can  do 
a  true  act  and  win  a  true  character  as  well  as  tell 
the  truth  with  his  tongue. 

4.  The  truth  in  the  large  sense  and  simple 
truth-telling  have  in  them  a  wonderful  ennobling 
power.  ''Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth," 
prayed  Jesus  (John  17:17).  To  live  in  the 
great  truths  of  Christ  is  to  touch  life  with  the 
glory  of  Christ.  And  to  tell  the  truth  when  it  is 
hard  is  to  bring  into  character  new  strength  and 
power.  Jesus  was  doing  this  constantly.  He 
told  Simon  his  protestations  of  loyalty  were  ut- 
terly worthless  (John  13  :  36-38).  He  called 
his  expostulations  against  Jesus'  steadfastness  in 
duty  by  their  right  name,  Satanic  (Matt.  16  :  23). 
He  laid  His  touch  gently  but  unhesitatingly  on 
the  selfishness  of  the  hearts  of  His  disciples 
(John  16  :  5,  6).  Such  truth-telling  is  the  very 
fountain  of  strength.      Try  it.      Tell  the  plain 

^j  truth  in   kindness,    but  in   Puritan   severity  of 


JESUS    AND    VERACITY  1 79 

veracity  the  next  time  it  is  your  duty  to  do  it,  and  ^ 
see  how  exhilarating  it  is.     Drop  social  lies  and  i 
be  true.     Being  true  is  not  being  boorish  or  rude 
or  discourteous ;  but  it  is  refusing  to  parade  in 
the  devil's  livery  of  lies. 

5.  Some    people   say   that   telling  the  truth 
alienates.     No,  it  is  falsehood  that  alienates  from 
the  truth.     The  reason  people  hold  aloof  from  i 
Jesus  is  found  here.     They  are  not  of  the  truth. 
They  are  kin  to  what  is  not  true,  and  they  do  not  \ 

hear  Christ's  voice  (John  i8  :  37  ;  8:  40,  44,  45).         UC^-''- 
The  truth  stands   serene   and""  steadfast.     Those        ■ 
are  the  losers  whose  unveracity  of  life  incapaci- 
tates them  for  appreciating  it  and  alienates  them 
from  it. 

6.  And    the    truth    alone    makes    men   free 
(John  8  :  32).     Only  the  truth  can  be  let  alone. 
You  can  speak  truth  and  leave  it  without  fear.  | 
But  a  lie  needs  to  be  watched  and  revisited  and  \ 
covered  over  with  a  new  lie  here  and  another 
new  one  there.     The  liar's  life  is  full  of  uncer- 
tainties and  fears.     But  whoso  tells  the  truth  has 
no  fear  (Mark  12  :  14).     He  has  nothing  to  con- 
ceal.    The  blaze  of  day  brings  no  shameful  dis-  \ 
closures  of  hidden  things. 

7.  Jesus  said  that  God  did  not  want  any  wor- 
ship in  lies.  The  true  worshipper  must  worship  in 
truth,  not  in  idolatry  or  pantheism  or  falsehood 
of  whatsoever  sort,  whether  of  emotion  or  doc- 
trine or  ritual,  but  in  truth  (John  4 :  24).     The 


l8o  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

supreme  thing  is  truth.  A  man  may  lose  his  life. 
That  is  a  mere  trifle.  But  a  man  may  not  lie. 
That  is  a  betrayal  of  the  Son  of  God  who  is  true, 
and  of  God  the  Father  of  truth,  who  is  against 
the  father  of  lies  and  his  children. 


XL 

JESUS    AND   FALSEHOOD 

I.  Let  us  come  back  again  to  Jesus'  teaching 
about  truth  and  falsehood.  It  is  the  fundamental 
guestionof  morals  and  character.  Believing  in  the 
truth,  Jesus  was  against  falsehood  and  lies.  He 
knew  no  sterner  name  for  the  devil  than  ''liar," 
and  He  proclaimed  him  to  be  the  father  of  all 
lies  (John  8  :  44),  And  He  did  not  shrink  from 
characterizing  unmistakably  the  falsehood  of  char- 
acter in  those  who  rejected  Him  (John  8  :  45). 

There  are  people  who  admire  the  truth,  and 
who  believe  that  men  should  tell  the  truth ;  but 
they  think  that  circumstances  might  arise  which 
would  make  a  lie  justifiable.  In  one  of  the  sacred 
books  of  Hinduism,  the  Mahabharata,  the 
god  Krishna  declares  :  "  There  is  nothing  higher 
than  truth.  Behold,  however,  truth  as  practiced 
is  exceedingly  difficult  to  be  understood  as  re- 
gards its  essential  attributes.  Truth  may  be  un- 
utterable, and  even  falsehood  may  be  utterable 
when  falsehood  would  become  truth  and  truth 
would  become  falsehood;"  and  he  proceeds  to 
name  five  kinds  of  falsehood,  for  example,  when 

^!fe__H-.yL  J^SSIJ^^j  which  are  sinless.     And  some 
181 


i82  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Christians  agree  with  Krishna  in  this.  They 
speak  of  ''lies  of  necessity,"  to  save  life,  and  for 
other  ends.  Even  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  says  that 
there  are  emergencies  where  *'  the  general  obliga- 
tion to  speak  the  truth  is  merged  or  lost,  for  the 
time  being,  in  the  higher  obligation,"  and  that 
at  such  times  it  is  right  to  lie. 

It  must  be,  then,  that  the  child  of  God  is  in  -^ 
this  emergency  displaying  the  nature  of  God,  his  . 
Father,  and  that  God  as  well  as  the  devil  is  a 
liar.  But  the  very  thought  is  blasphemy.  Still, 
the  logic  is  unanswerable.  If  it  is  impossible  or 
wrong  for  God  ever  to  lie,  it  is  impossible  or 
wrong^  for  us  ever  to  lie.  And  that  \yas  j:ertainly 
Jesus*  view.  He  asserted  that  the  devil  was  the 
father  of  lies,  and  He  did  not  make  room  for 
fsome  lies  which  did  not  bear  the  stamp  of  the 
•  devil's  paternity.  Jesus  was  not  the  truth  plus 
a  little  justifiable  falsehood.  He  was  the  truth, 
and  there  was  no  darkness  of  lies  in  Him.  And 
there  is  no  more  justification  of  lies  in  us  than 
there  was  in  Him. 

2.  If  a  lie  could  be  found  in  Jesus'  life,  our 
confidence  in  Him  would  be  at  an  end.  There 
(  can  be  no  trust  in  life  when  the  justifiableness  of 
j  lies  is  defended.  It  destroys  friendship.  How 
may  I  know  when  my  friend  who  thinks  lies 
sometim  s  justifiable  may  think  that  the  circum- 
stances nave  arisen  which  justify  him  in  lying  to 
me  ?     I  may  think  that  he  is  bound  in  just  these 


JESUS    AND    FALSEHOOD  1 83 

circumstances  to  tell  me  the  truth.  He  may  think 
that  they  justify  him  in  turning  Har.  And,  when 
I  have  discovered  this,  my  trust  in  him  is  gone. 
The  only  foundation  of  perfect  human  trust  is  per- 
fect human  trustworthiness,  excluding  as  damnable 
and  atrocious  every  lie.  '<  Whatsoever  conve- 
nience," said  Tillotson,  in  his  sermon  on  "Sin- 
cerity," ''maybe  thought  to  be  in  falsehood  and 
dissimulation,  it  is  soon  over ;  but  the  inconven- 
ience thereof  is  perpetual,  because  it  bringeth  a 
man  under  an  everlasting  jealousy  and  suspicion, 
so  that  he  is  not  believed  when  he  speaks  truth  nor 
trusted  when  perhaps  he  means  honestly.  'When  a 
man  has  once  forfeited  the  reputation  of  his  integ- 
rity, he  is  set  fast,  and  nothing  will  then  serve  his 
turn,  neither  truth  nor  falsehood."  And  integrity 
means  wholeness,  entireness,  uprightness,  without 
exception  or  justification,  absolute  truthfulness 
without  any  side  doors  for  lies.  "I  tell  the 
truth,"  said  Jesus  (John  8  :  45). 

3.  But  ^vhat  is  a  lie  ?  To  lie  is  to  do  or  say 
anything  untrue  with  the  intention  to  deceive. 
Jesus  was  never  guilty  of  this.  He  was  never 
guilty  of  deception  of  any  sort.  John  7  :  8 
is  no  exception,  nor  is  Luke  24  :  28.  In  the 
former  case  what  He  said  was  perfectly  true, 
and  in  the  latter  He  would  certainly  have  passed 
on  if  the  disciples  had  not  invited  Him  in.  He 
assures  the  disciples  that  they  can  trust  Him 
(John  14:  2).     He  would   never  deceive  them. 


184  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

And,  as  Dorner  says,  "The  test  for  us  is,  whether 

we  would  ever  imagine  Christ  acting  in  this  way, 

either  for  the  sake  of  others,  or,  which  would  be 

quite  as  justifiable,  since  self-love  is  a  moral  duty, 

for  His  own  sake."     But   Jesus,   on   the  other 

hand,  spoke  the  truth  in  the  plainest  way  j^en  it 

cost  Him  disciples  (Matt.  19:  21  ;    John  6  :  26, 

60,   66) ;    when    it   perplexed   and   pained   His 

I  friends  (Mark  8  :  31,  32 ;  John  16  :  17) ;    when 

{ it  cost  Him  His  own  life  (John  18  :  5,  8;  Mark 

•  14 :  62).     No  lies  were  white  in  His  eyes. 

4.  And  rK)_  lies_  ejerare  white.  They  are 
black  with  folly.  As  Nitzsch  says,  "The lie  told 
from  supposed  necessity  or  to  serve  another  is 
always,  even  in  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
a  sign  either  of  a  wisdom  which  is  lacking  in  love 
and  truth,  or  of  a  love  which  is  lacking  in  wis- 
dom." Or  they  are  dark  with  selfishness  and 
cowardice.  For,  as  Martensen  says:  "A  lie  of 
exigency  cannot  occur  with  a  personality  that  is 

i  found  in  possession  of  full  courage,  of  perfect 
love  and  holiness,  or  of  the  enlightened,  all-pene- 
trating glance.  ...  It  is  this  that  we  see  in 
Christ,  in  whose  mouth  no  guile  was  found,  in 
whom  we  find  nothing  that  even  remotely  belongs 
to  the  category  of  the  exigent  lie  "  (i  Pet.  2:22, 
cf.    I  Pet.  3  :  10). 

5.  Of  whatever  distinctions  we  may  make 
among  lies,  the  Bible  doctrine  of  future  judgment 
seems  to  be  ignorant.     All  liars,  says  the  book  of 


JESUS    AND    FALSEHOOD  1 85 

Revelation,  whatever  the  complexion  of  their 
lies,  and  with  no  reference  to  the  stout  arguments 
that  some  of  them  might  make  in  justification  of 
their  lies,  belong  in  one  place,  and  it  is  not  the 
place  where  those  who  spoke  and  did  the  truth 
look  upon  the  face  of  the  God  of  truth  (Rev. 
21:  8). 

If  any  one  following  these  studies  has  confusion 
of  mind  on  this  fundamental  question,  let  him 
get  and  study  Dr.  Trumbull's  little  book,  A  Lie 
Never  Justifiable, 


XLI 

JESUS   AND   JUDGMENT 

1.  At  first  sight,  the  words  of  Jesus  seem  to 
forbid  our  forming  judgments  of  one  another's 
courses  of  action.  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not 
judged,"  says  Jesus;  ''for  with  what  judgment 
ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged  "  (Matt.  7  :  i).  And 
of  Himself  He  says,  "I  judge  no  man"  (John 
8:15).  "If  any  man  hear  My  sayings,  and 
keep  them  not,  I  judge  him  not,  for  I  came  not 
to  judge  the  world"  (John  12:47).  Ii^  these 
sayings  our  Lord  appears  to  forbid  judgment  on 
our  part,  and  to  forego  it  on  His  own.  "Who 
made  Me  a  judge  ?  "  He  asks  (Luke  12  :  14). 

2.  Yet  He  seems  to  contradict  this  view.  He 
plainly  asks  Simon  for  his  judgment  upon  two 
debtors  whom  He  describes  to  him,  and  com- 
mends the  judgment  which  Simon  gave  (Luke 
7  :  43).  He  asked  the  multitude  reproachfully, 
"Why  even  of  yourselves  judge  ye  not  what  is 
right?"  (Luke  12  :  57.)  He  pronounces  a  woe 
upon  the  Pharisees  because  they  "  pass  over  judg- 
ment "  (Luke  II  :  42).  And  He  explicitly  en- 
joins upon  the  multitude,  "Judge  righteous  judg- 
ment"  (John  7:24),  while   He   Himself  both 

186 


JESUS    AND    JUDGMENT  187 

judged  and  declared  that  He  judged.  ''For 
judgment  I  am  come  into  this  world "  (John 
9  :  39).  "  The  Father  hath  committed  all  judg- 
ment unto  the  Son  "  (John  5:22).  "  As  I  hear, 
I  judge,  and  My  judgment  is  just "  (John  5  :  30). 
*'  I  have  many  things  to  judge  concerning  you  " 
(John  8:  26).  ''My  judgment  is  righteous,  be- 
cause I  seek  not  Mine  own  will "  (John  5  :  30). 
And  we  see  Jesus  constantly  judging  and  express- 
ing judgments.  He  condemns  the  Pharisees. 
Where  ?  He  approves  the  poor  widow  (Luke  21 : 
3,  4).  He  rebukes  Peter  (Matt.  16:  23).  He 
pronounces  some  courses  of  action  good  and 
beautiful,  and  others  unworthy  and  despicable. 
3.  Indeed,  judgment  is  unavoidable.  Every- 
thing we  do  or  refrain  from  doing,  every  word 
we  speak  or  refrain  from  speaking,  involves  a 
judgment.  We  are  obliged  constantly  to  judge, 
and  to  form  opinions,  each  one  of  which  is  a 
judgment.  "We  thus  judge,"  says  Paul,  "that 
if  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead"  (2  Cor. 
5  :  14).  ''Judge  this,  that  no  man  put  a  stum- 
bling-block in  his  brother's  way"  (Rom.  14  :  13). 
Our  whole  life  is  made  up  of  judgments, — our  ^ 
tastes,  our  companions,  our  occupations,  our  aims.  ' 
And  Jesus  Himself  was  and  could  not  but  be  a 
judgment.  He  condemned  by  what  He  was,  by 
the  mere  fact  of  His  being  what  He  was,  all  that 
was  opposed  to  Him  and  unlike  Him.  It  is  true 
that  He  came  not  to  judge,  but  to  save  (John 


l88  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

12  :  47).  It  is  equally  true  that  it  was  for  judg- 
ment that  He  came  (John  9 :  39).  And  His 
judgment  was  the  world's  salvation.  To  perceive 
and  adopt  that  judgment  is  to  be  conformed  to 
the  image  of  God's  Son  (Rom.  8  :  29). 

4.  What,  then,  did  Jesus  mean  when  He  for- 
bade us  to  judge  ?  "  It  is  private,  affected,  need- 
less, groundless,  rash,  and  harsh  censuring  the 
persons  or  actions  of  our  brethren,"  observes 
Barrow,  **  such  as  doth  resemble  not  the  acting  of 
a  lawful  superior,  of  a  needful  witness,  of  a  faith- 
ful friend,  but  of  a  judge  acting  without  compe- 
tent right,  upon  no  good  grounds,  or  in  undue 
manner,  which  is  here  interdicted."  Jesus  did 
not  mean  to  forbid  the  formation  of  those  neces- 
sary judgments  which  determine  our  entire  course 
of  action  in  life  and  all  our  deeds  and  words  and 
choices.  His  saying  is  not  directed  against  any 
judgment  of  principles.  Nor  does  it  forbid  all 
judgments  of  persons.  For  then  how  should  we 
determine  our  friendships  and  life  companionships 
and  social  duties?  Nor  does  it  forbid  all  un- 
favorable judgments  of  persons,  or  the  utterance 
of  them.  **  Ye  offspring  of  vipers  !  "  exclaimed 
John  the  Baptist  (Matt.  3:7).  *' Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  hypocrites,"  cried  Jesus,  "  ye  are  like 
unto  whited  sepulchres,  ye  serpents"  (Matt.  23: 
27»  33)-  To  see  the  truth  often  demands  of  us 
the  formation  of  stern  judgments,  and  to  speak 
the  truth  requires  their  expression.     One  trouble 


JESUS    AND   JUDGMENT  1 89 

with  life  nowadays  is  that  men  and  women  do  not 
form  judgments  which  they  ought  to  form,  defined, 
resolute,  and  bring  their  conduct  and  the  conduct 
of  others  into  conformity  to  those  judgments. 
What  is  dishonest  and  corrupt  in  politics  should 
be  judged  such,  and  pronounced  such,  and  fought 
as  such. 

5.  But  the  warning  of  Jesus  is  a  needed  warn- 
ing. With  what  judgment  we  judge  we  shall  be 
judged  (Matt.  7  :  2).  Our  judgment  of  others  is 
itself  the  establishment  of  the  principles  by 
which  we  profess  to  believe  that  judgment  may 
justly  be  rendered  (Rom.  2  :  i,  3).  And,  further- 
more, our  judgment  of  one  another  is  always  in 
danger  of  want  of  charity  or  deliberation  or  re- 
sponsibility (Rom.  14:3,  4,  10,  13;  Jas.  4: 
II,  12;   I  Cor.  4:5). 

Still,  judgments  we  must  form  every  day.  We 
can  form  them  safely  if  we  fulfill  the  conditions 
laid  down  by  Paul  and  by  our  Lord.  "  He  that 
is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things"  (i  Cor.  2:  15). 
"  My  judgment  is  righteous,  because  I  seek  not 
Mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him  that  sent 
Me  "(John  5:  30). 


XLII 

JESUS    AND    FAITH 

1.  Jesus  set  a  high  estimate  on  faith.  It 
ahvays  pleased  Him  to  discover  it  (Matt.  8  :  lo; 
9  :  2).  He  attributes  to  it  great  power  (Matt. 
9:22;  15:28;  Luke  17:  19;  18:42).  And, 
while  He  commended  great  faith  where  He  found 
it,  He  yet  deemed  faith  of  any  quantity,  if  of  the 
right  quality  so  mighty  that  He  declared  in  reply 
to  His  disciples'  request  for  enlarged  faith,  '<  If 
ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  ye  would 
say  unto  this  sycamine-tree.  Be  thou  rooted  up 
and  be  thou  planted  in  the  sea,  and  it  would  have 
obeyed  you"  (Luke  17  :  6;  Matt.  21  :  21). 

2.  But  what  did  Jesus  mean  by  faith  ?  He 
meant  often  just  confidence  in  Himself.  "  He 
that  believeth  on  Me  hath  everlasting  life ' '  (John 
6  :  47).  He  summoned  men  to  a  complete  sur- 
render of  themselves  to  Him,  a  complete  accept- 
ance of  His  word,  and  an  absolute  trust  in  His 
sufficient  strength,  ''The  faith  of  the  gospel," 
said  D wight,  ''whatever  may  be  its  immediate 
object,  is  no  other  than  confidence  in  the  moral 
character  of  God,  especially  of  the  Redeemer." 
In  its  deepest  and  fullest  sense,  faith  is  believing 

190 


JESUS    AND    FAITH  I9I 

God  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  (2  Tim.  i  :  12; 
Jas.  2  :  23).  In  this  sense  of  perfect  trust  Jesus 
was  the  supreme  illustration  of  faith. 

3.  Jesus  does  not  use  faith  or  illustrate  faith  in 
the  sense  of  being  ''the  acceptation  of  something 
as  true  which  is  not  known  to  be  true."  He  had 
no  faith  of  that  character.  Faith  was  a  personal 
thing  in  His  case,  an  intelligent  and  reasonable 
confidence  in  God  which  gave  Him  the  absolute 
assurance  of  the  truth  of  God's  ways  with  Him. 
But  faith  was  not  the  blind  acceptance  of  things 
He  did  not  know  to  be  true.  The  confusion  of 
men  at  this  point  arises  from  their  assumption  that 
there  is  only  one  kind  of  evidence  or  knowledge. 
We  may  know  things  to  be  true  without  physical 
evidence  of  their  truth.  Physical  evidence  can- 
not touch  most  of  the  things  we  value  as  the  worth- 
iest things  in  life.  Belief  is  knowledge,  but  it  is 
knowledge  reached  by  personal  acquaintance  and 
trust  (2  Tim.  i :  12). 

4.  Whether  we  will  know  a  person  or  not 
depends  upon  whether  we  ivill  to  know.  And 
there  is  a  place  for  the  will  in  faith,  because  there 
is  a  place  for  the  will  in  knowledge.  As  Romanes 
says,  ''Faith  in  its  religious  sense  is  distinguished 
not  only  from  opinion  (or  belief  founded  on  reason 
alone),  in  that  it  contains  a  spiritual  element ;  it 
is  further  distinguished  from  belief  founded  on  the 
affections,  by  needing  an  active  cooperation  of  the 
will.     Thus  all  parts  of  the  human  mind  have  to 


192  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

be  involved  in  faith, — intellect,  emotions,  will. 
We  *  believe '  in  the  theory  of  evolution  on  grounds 
of  reason  alone ;  we  '  believe  '  in  the  affection  of 
parents,  children,  etc.,  almost  (or  it  may  be  ex- 
clusively) on  what  I  have  called  spiritual  grounds ; 
t.  e.,  on  grounds  of  spiritual  experience;  for  this 
we  need  no  exercise  either  of  reason  or  of  will. 
But  no  one  can  '  believe '  in  God,  or  afortiori  in 
Christ,  without  also  a  severe  effort  of  the  will. 
This  I  hold  to  be  a  matter  of  fact,  whether  or  not 
there  be  a  God  or  a  Christ."  Jesus  knew  this. 
He  commanded  men  to  believe  because  He  knew 
that  the  will  enters  into  faith  (Mark  11  :  22,  24; 
5  :  36).  And  constantly  in  His  teaching  He  taught 
what  whether  men  believed  or  not  was  a  matter 
determined  in  their  wills  (John  3:12;  4 :  48 ; 
5  •  38  ;  ^''  Z^')  8  :  46 ;  10  :  26).  Because  belief 
and  unbelief  are  affairs  of  the  will,  as  well  as  of 
the  heart  and  mind,  Jesus  declares  that  judgment 
hangs  upon  them.  The  attitude  that  we  take  in 
our  wills  towards  Christ  determines  for  us  the 
divine  attitude  (John  3  :  18,  36  ;  5  :  24;  6  :  35  ; 
8  :  24). 

5.  The  relation  of  faith  to  will  explains  its 
relation  to  service  and  achievement.  It  was  the 
sight  of  Christ's  power  in  nature  that  led  the 
disciples  to  ask  for  an  enlargement  of  their  faith 
(Mark  11  :  20-25)  \  ^'^^  it  was,  Jesus  said,  be- 
cause of  little  faith  that  the  disciples  were  in- 
effective (Matt.  17:  14-20).     In  its  great  sense, 


JESUS    AND    FAITH  I93 

faith  is  the  absorption  of  life  in  a  great  personal 
service.  As  Mazzini  says,  *<  Faith  requires  an 
aim  capable  of  embracing  life  as  a  whole,  of  con- 
centrating all  its  manifestations,  of  directing  its 
various  modes  of  activity,  or  of  repressing  them 
all  in  favor  of  one  alone.  It  requires  an  earnest, 
unalterable  conviction  that  that  aim  will  be  re- 
alized ;  a  profound  belief  in  a  mission,  and  the 
obligation  to  fulfill  it ;  and  the  consciousness  of  a 
supreme  power  watching  over  the  path  of  the 
faithful  towards  its  accomplishment.  These  ele- 
ments are  indispensable  to  faith ;  and  where  any 
one  of  these  is  wanting  we  shall  have  sects, 
schools,  political  parties,  but  no  faith,  no  constant 
hourly  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  a  great  religious 
idea. ' '  In  this  noble  sense  Jesus  was  the  great 
heart  of  faith. 

6.  Faith  alone  can  meet  mystery.  Life  is  full 
of  mystery — the  mystery  of  pain,  of  love,  of  sor- 
row, of  separation,  of  holiness,  of  sin,  of  life,  of 
death.  Mere  intellectual  opinion,  or  science, 
confined  to  its  little  space  of  physical  knowledge, 
stands  dumb  and  impotent  before  the  mystery  of 
life.  But  faith  has  faculties  with  which  to  pierce 
the  deepest  mystery  (John  20 :  8).  The  end  of 
belief,  as  Jesus  said,  is  that  men  *'  may  know  and 
understand,"  even  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation 
itself  (John  10:  37,  38). 

7.  Faith  is  sure,  and  yet  it  is  not  presump- 
tuous.    Jesus  submitted  His  will  to  God, — ''Not 


194  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Mine,  but  Thine  "  (Matt.  26  :  39) ;  yet  He  said, 
*'  I  know  that  Thou  hearest  Me  always,"  and  gave 
thanks  publicly  for  the  certain  answer  He  ex- 
pected to  His  prayer  (John  11  :  41-44).  And  so 
we  are  to  trust  Him,  leaving  our  wills  in  His 
hands,  while  at  the  same  time  we  are  to  believe 
with  certainty  and  assured  hope  (Mark  1 1  :  23,  24). 


XLIII 

JESUS   AND   TRUST 

1.  It  would  seem  that  faith  should  unques- 
tionably imply  trust.  Unfortunately  it  does  not. 
A  man  may  accept  the  doctrine  of  Christianity, 
and  believe  in  Christ,  and  yet  be  full  of  anxiety 
and  worry  and  care.  This  is  only  one  of  many 
contradictory  things  in  Christian  experience. 
True  faith,  however,  will  issue  in  full  trust.  If 
we  believe  God,  and  have  confidence  in  Him  and 
His  love,  we  must  be  calm  and  live  at  peace. 
"  Being  justified  by  faith,"  says  Paul,  "we  have 
peace"  (Rom.  5:1). 

2.  The  life  of  Jesus  was  a  life  of  perfect  calm 
and  trust.  He  was  never  worried  or  irritated. 
The  prospect  of  death  did  not  dismay  Him  (Matt. 
20:  18  j  John  12:  32,  ^^).  And  He  met  the 
harder  test  of  the  petty  trials  of  life.  He  en- 
dured the  knowledge  of  Judas's  treacherous  heart 
without  worry  (Matt.  17:  22;  26:  21;  John 
6:  64;  13:  11).  He  was  not  filled  with  care 
over  His  disciples,  though  He  knew  their  slow- 
ness (Mark  8  :  17  ;  Luke  9  :  45  ;  18  :  34),  and 
hardness  of  heart  (Mark  16  :  14),  and  vacillation 
and  weakness  (John  6  :  61).     He  speaks  quietly 

195 


196  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

of  the  prospect  of  evil  (John  11  :  8-16).  He 
told  Pilate  calmly  that  a  greater  will  than  his  was 
shaping  affairs  (John  19  :  11).  He  forbade  strife 
at  His  betrayal  (Matt.  26  ;  52,  53  ;  Luke  22  :  51), 
and  accepted  it  with  majestic  composure  (Luke 
22  :  52,  23).  He  had  nothing,  yet  felt  no  con- 
cern whatever  over  His  plight  (Luke  9  :  57-62). 
What  suffering  and  shame  were  coming  He  long 
foresaw  (Luke  9  :  44;  John  2  :  19-22),  and  spoke 
of  it  calmly  to  His  disciples,  and  accepted  it 
without  murmuring,  rather  with  joy  (Heb.  12:  2). 

3.  He  was  completely  free  from  any  appear- 
ance of  self-will  or  restlessness.  There  was  no 
fitful  haste  to  carry  out  some  plan,  no  eagerness 
to  overtake  or  to  detain  the  hours.  He  did  not 
fear  that  He  would  be  too  slow  or  late.  He 
knew  the  times.  *'Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come," 
He  said  once  (John  2  :  4),  and  once,  ''My  time 
is  not  yet  come"  (John  7  :  6),  and  again,  ''The 
hour  is  come,"  "Father,  the  hour  is  come" 
(John  17:  i;  cf.  4:  21;  5  :  25;  7:  30;  8:  20; 
13  :  I ;  16  :  32).  He  reminded  Himself  that 
each  hour  had  its  duty  for  Him,  and  in  that  trust 
He  quieted  His  heart  (John  12  :  27). 

4.  And  Jesus  forbade  worry  and  care  and 
fear.  He  told  the  people  to  have  no  anxiety 
over  their  life,  their  food,  their  drink,  their  dress, 
their  growth,  their  future  (Matt.  6  :  25-34). 
Their  Father  knew  what  they  needed.  Could 
they  not  trust  Him?     He  was  not  encouraging 


JESUS    AND    TRUST  I97 

indolence  or  carelessness.  Trust  in  God  does 
not  mean  blindness  to  God's  simple  laws.  It  is 
in  close  connection  with  a  noble  declaration  of 
the  grace  of  God  and  our  inheritance  of  life  that 
Paul  exhorts  Titus  to  see  that  "they  which  have 
believed  in  God  may  be  careful  to  maintain  good 
works"  (Tit.  3:  8).  And  again  He  says  that 
"  if  any  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat  " 
(2  Thess.  3  :  10).  Trust  in  God  precludes  worry. 
It  enjoins  work.  And  Jesus  encouraged  the 
hearts  of  men  against  fear  (Luke  5  :  10;  8  :  50  j 
12  :  7;  Matt.  8  :  26).  Neither  dark,  nor  danger, 
nor  the  future,  nor  the  past,  nor  poverty,  nor 
want,  nor  adversaries,  nor  death  should  be  feared 
by  those  who  trust  Christ. 

5 .  Faith,  like  trust,  is  throughout  the  New  Testa- 
ment associated  with  the  glad  and  hopeful  things. 
Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for  (Heb. 
II  :  i).  It  is  sister  to  joy  (i  Pet.  i  :  8),  and  hope 
(i  Pet.  I  :  21).  It  is  the  secret  of  victory  over 
the  world  (i  John  5:5).  It  drives  all  shame  and 
failure  out  of  life,  and  fills  it  with  confidence 
(i  Pet.  2:6;  Heb.  10:  22;  Rom.  9:  33).  It 
begets  patience  and  content  (2  Thess.  1:4;  Rev. 
2:19;  13  :  10).  It  unlocks  the  future,  and  gives 
us  perfect  assurance  as  to  our  safety  in  it  (2  Tim. 
1:12).  It  speaks  to  us  of  rest.  We  who  have 
believed  do  enter  into  rest  (Heb.  4:3),  for  we 
have  accepted  the  invitation  of  Him  who  can  be 
trusted,  who  said,  "Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that 


198  tHE    PRINCIPLES    OF    jESUS 

labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest"  (Matt.  11  :  28).  This  is  the  lesson  of  the 
Keswick  hymn : — 

"  Like  a  river,  glorious, 

Is  God's  perfect  peace, 
Over  all  victorious 

In  its  bright  increase  ; 
Perfect,  yet  it  floweth 

Fuller  every  day; 
Perfect,  yet  it  groweth 

Deeper  all  the  way. 

"  Hidden  in  the  hollow 

Of  His  blessed  hand, 
Never  foe  can  follow. 

Never  traitor  stand; 
Not  a  surge  of  worry. 

Not  a  shade  of  care, 
Not  a  blast  of  hurry. 

Touch  the  spirit  there. 

"  Every  joy  or  trial 

Falleth  from  above. 
Traced  upon  our  dial 

By  the  Son  of  love. 
We  may  trust  Him  fully. 

All  for  us  to  do ; 
They  who  trust  Him  wholly 

Find  Him  wholly  true. 

"  Stayed  upon  Jehovah 

Hearts  are  fully  blessed, 
Finding,  as  He  promised. 
Perfect  peace  and  rest." 


XI  .IV 

JESUS   AND   SACRIFICE 

1.  The  idea  of  sacrifice  is  indissolubly  asso- 
ciated with  the  idea  of  religion.  But  what  do  we 
mean  by  sacrifice  ?  In  our  customary  use  of  the 
word  we  mean  either  the  material  offerings  made 
to  God  by  His  worshippers,  as  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment days,  or  the  loss  and  yielding  up  of  personal 
interests  involved  in  some  offering  made  to  Him. 
Almost  never  in  the  New  Testament  is  the  use  of 
the  word  in  this  second  significance  to  be  found. 
It  speaks  of  sacrifice  in  the  former  meaning  (Mark 
12  :  33 ;  Luke  2  :  24 ;  Acts  7  :  41,  42  ;  i  Cor. 
lo  :  18  ;  Heb.  9  :  9 ;  10  :  i).  Or  it  uses  the 
great  primary  significance  of  it,  which  we  too 
seldom  remember;  namely,  the  rendering  up  to 
God  as  sacred  that  which  has  not  before  been 
consecrated  to  Him  (Rom.  12:1;  Eph.  5:2; 
Phil.  4:  18). 

2.  Sacrifice  in  Jesus'  life  was  synonymous 
with  this  high  self-dedication.  He  had  come  to 
do  God's  will  (John  6  :  38).  That  was  His  meat 
(John  4  :  34).  He  yielded  Himself  utterly  to  the 
Father  and  His  purpose  (John  7  :  29;  17  :  4). 
His  sacrifice  was  even  a  surrender  in  His  own 

199 


200  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

case  of  what  He  accomplished  for  others  (Mark 
15  :  31).  He  did  fulfill  the  Old  Testament  re- 
quirements, and  complete  and  conclude  all  its 
ritual  of  material  sacrifice  for  sin.  He  was  our 
passover,  sacrificed  for  us  (i  Cor.  5  :  7).  He 
offered  one  sacrifice  for  sin  forever,  and  sat  down 
on  the  right  hand  of  God  (Heb.  10  :  12-18). 
And  then  He  made  an  end  of  sacrifice  in  that 
sense.  There  is  no  more  offering  for  sin  (Heb. 
10  :  18).  The  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  sacri- 
ficial character  of  the  priesthood,  any  separate 
priest  class  at  all,  any  material  sacrificial  notion 
in  the  communion,  are  all  alien  to  the  New  Tes- 
tament. The  true  sacrifice  is  a  humble  and  a 
contrite  spirit  (Ps.  51  :  17).  And  Jesus  often 
pressed  this  truth.  When  the  Pharisees  objected 
to  His  association  with  sinners,  exalting  social 
conventionality  above  moral  service.  He  told 
them  that  God  wanted  sacrifice  of  the  type  of 
self-dedication,  not  pharisaical  sacrificialism  (Matt. 
9:13),  and  He  made  the  same  remark  when  the 
Pharisees  objected  to  His  disciples*  plucking  ears 
of  corn  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is  the  ever-present 
conflict  between  religion  which  exalts  form  and 
religion  which  exalts  spirit. 

3.  The  Christian  idea  of  sacrifice  or  consecra- 
tion, that  is,  the  offering  of  our  lives  and  our 
possessions  in  sacred  devotion  to  God,  is  associ- 
ated in  our  minds  with  painful  self-denial.  "  It 
is  a  sad  illustration,"  says  Dr.  Trumbull,  *'  of  the 


JESUS   AND    SACRIFICE  101 

perversion,  if  not  of  the  degradation,  of  the 
human  intellect  and  of  the  human  character, 
which  is  supplied  in  the  fact  that  self-sacrifice, 
self-devotedness  to  that  which  is  sacred  and  holy, 
has  actually  come  to  be  looked  upon  so  generally 
as  synonymous  with  self-denial.  It  is  as  though 
a  man  were  to  say  explicitly :  *  For  me  to  be  de- 
voted to  another  in  love  or  in  friendship ;  for  me 
to  be  devoted  to  my  country,  to  the  welfare  of  my 
fellow-beings,  or  even  to  my  God,  is  contrary  to 
all  my  instincts  and  impulses  and  conscious  de- 
sires. I  do  not  want  to  be  devoted  to  any  one  or 
to  anything  outside  of  my  immediate  personal 
self.  In  order  to  have  any  sacred  devotedness  I 
must  subject  myself  to  a  constant  denial  of  the 
real  longings  of  my  lower  and  of  my  stronger 
self,'  "  In  reality  we  truly  fulfill  ourselves  and 
serve  our  lives  only  when  we  devote  them  in 
complete  surrender  to  God  (Matt.  i6  :  25  ;  Mark 

8:35)- 

4.  But  assuredly  we  do  rise  into  the  higher 
life  of  true  sacrifice  in  the  sense  of  noble  and 
sacred  dedication  of  ourselves  to  God  only  by  the 
suppression  of  what  is  low  and  base.  If  we  turn 
to  Christ,  we  turn  from  all  that  is  hostile  to  Him. 
And  in  His  teaching,  when  He  was  constantly 
appealing  to  men  to  sacrifice  themselves  in  His 
sense  of  the  word,  He  was  also  requiring  of  them 
some  sacrifice  in  their  sense  of  the  word.  Peter 
reminds  Him  of  this  (Mark  lo  :  28).     Jesus  called 


202  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

men  to  set  Himself  and  His  service  about  their 
own  lives  (Luke  9 :  24) ;  above  their  homes 
(Luke  14:  26),  above  their  occupations  (Luke 
5  :  10,  27),  above  their  possessions  (Luke  14 :  ^:^'), 
above  their  comfort  and  ease  (Luke  9:  57-62). 
"  If  any  man  would  come  after  Me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow 
Me"  (Luke  9  :  23). 

5 .  Sacrifice  in  the  Sense  of  self-denial  lays  the 
emphasis  on  what  we  leave  behind;  sacrifice  in 
the  sense  of  self-devotion,  on  what  we  move  to- 
wards. And  in  this  sense,  as  Dr.  Trumbull  says, 
"  self-denial  is  hard.  Self-sacrifice  is  easy.  Self- 
denial  is  liable  to  be  painful  and  bitter  at  the 
start.  Self-sacrifice  can  be  and  ought  to  be — it 
is  when  it  is  hearty  and  genuine — delightsome 
and  joyous  from  first  to  last."  Jesus  Himself 
said  that  the  disciples  who  left  men  to  follow 
Him  should  become  fishers  of  men  (Luke  5  :  10). 
Whatever  was  abandoned  here  for  Him  would  be 
given  back  a  hundredfold  with  eternal  life  (Matt. 
19  :  29).  If  He  asks  men  to  deny  themselves 
and  forsake  what  they  have,  it  is  that  they  may 
come  after  Him  and  have  all  that  He  has  (Luke 
9:  23;  John  12:  26).  If  we  will  devote  our- 
selves to  Christ,  He  will  devote  Himself  to  us. 
His  sacrifice  will  meet  and  answer  and  overflow 
and  crown  ours. 

6.  It  is  only  when  we  show  Jesus  that  we 
esteem    Him    above    all   other   possessions   and 


JESUS    AND    SACRIFICE  2O3 

friends  that  we  are  in  a  position  to  be  trusted 
with  other  possessions  and  friends.  If  we  love 
them  more  than  Christ,  we  have  need  that  they 
should  be  taken  away  from  us.  When  we  have 
truly  devoted  them  and  ourselves  to  Christ,  we 
can  safely  retain  them,  and  both  use  and  enjoy 
them  with  a  new  freedom  and  wealth.  It  is  so 
always.  When  we  are  willing  to  give  up,  we  can 
be  trusted  to  keep.  It  is  told  of  one  of  the  Venns 
that  "a  medical  friend,  the  late  John  Pearson, 
Esq.,  who  frequently  visited  him  in  his  last  days, 
observed  that  the  near  prospect  of  dissolution  so 
elated  his  mind  with  joy  that  it  proved  a  stimulus 
to  life.  Upon  one  occasion  Mr.  Venn  himself 
remarked  some  fatal  appearances,  exclaiming, 
*  Surely  these  are  good  symptoms !  '  Mr.  Pear- 
son replied,  *  Sir,  in  this  state  of  joyous  excite- 
ment you  cannot  die.' " 


XLV 

JESUS  AND  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 

1.  Jesus  Christ  was  more  than  a  man  pos- 
sessed and  controlled  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is 
no  adequate  account  of  Him  to  say  that  His 
uniqueness  is  due  to  the  unique  way  in  which 
He  opened  Himself  to  the  divine  will  and  the 
absolute  guidance  of  the  divine  Spirit.  He  Him- 
self was  divine.  How  the  human  and  the  divine 
mingled  in  Him,  when  the  human  realized  the 
reality  and  meaning  of  the  divine,  what  part  the 
Holy  Spirit  played  in  His  nature  as  God  and 
man,  we  cannot  know ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  of 
importance  that  we  should  know.  It  is  enough 
for  us  that,  apart  from  any  personal  and  distinct 
work  which  the  Holy  Spirit  did  in  Him,  the 
Spirit  was  to  Him  much  that  the  Spirit  may  be 
and  must  be  to  us. 

2.  The  Spirit  of  God  descended  on  Jesus  at 
His  baptism  (Matt.  3  :  16),  and  marked  Him  out 
to  John  the  Baptist  as  the  Son  of  God  (John 
I-  33f  34)'  The  Spirit  led  Jesus  in  His  disci- 
pline (Luke  4 :  i),  and  the  ministry  of  His  life 
(Matt.  12  :  28;  Luke  4:  18).  The  Spirit  added 
power  to  His  service  (Luke  4  :  14). 

204 


JESUS    AND    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT  205 

3.  And  Jesus  planned  that  when  He  was  gone 
the  Spirit  should  take  His  place  and  do  His  work 
by  leading  His  disciples  more  fully  into  His  mind 
and  teaching  them  His  ways  and  enduing  them 
with  power.  Yet  even  while  He  lived  He  pressed 
on  their  thought  the  necessary  work  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  When  they  spoke  before  governors  and 
kings,  they  were  not  to  be  affrighted  or  abashed. 
The  Spirit  of  Christ's  Father  and  their  Father 
would  speak  in  them  (John  20  :  17  j  Matt.  10 :  20). 
Again  He  referred  to  the  matter,  connecting  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  Father-nature  of 
God,  and  assured  His  disciples  that  God  was 
readier  to  give  them  the  Spirit  than  they  were  to 
give  gifts  to  their  children  (Luke  11 :  13).  He 
laid  upon  Nicodemus  the  fundamental  necessity 
of  the  new  birth  of  the  Spirit  (John  3 :  5,  6,  8) ; 
and  upon  the  woman  of  Sychar  the  equally  fun- 
damental necessity  of  worship  in  the  Spirit  (John 
4 :  23,  24).  And  He  described  to  her  that  rich 
life  which  springs  from  the  cherished  presence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  soul.  "  The  constant  glow 
of  sacred  affections,"  writes  Henry  Venn,  in  re- 
viewing his  grandfather's  correspondence,  "and 
the  ardent  aspirations  after  perfect  holiness  and 
unclouded  vision  of  God,  which  each  successive 
letter  exhibits,  remind  me  perpetually  of  the 
promise  of  our  Saviour,  it  '  shall  be  in  him  a  well 
of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life ' ;  that 
is,  I  conceive,  the  holy  affections  which  the  Spirit 


206  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

excites  in  the  soul  shall  be  like  the  waters  of  a 
perennial  spring,  ever  rising  fresh  and  pure,  and 
not  to  be  checked  or  repressed  by  any  superin- 
cumbent weight.  In  one  view,  such  an  example 
is  discouraging ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  when  a 
more  intimate  view  shows  us  that  these  measures 
of  grace  were  granted  in  a  proportionable  degree 
of  diligence  in  the  ordinary  means  of  grace,  and 
that  he  himself  confessed  that  they  were  de- 
pendent upon  his  maintaining  constant  com- 
munion with  God  in  prayer  and  meditation  and 
study  of  the  written  Word,  it  becomes  a  spur  to 
our  sluggishness,  and  reminds  us  of  the  words, 
'  Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not.'  " 

4.  But  it  was  after  Jesus'  departure  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  to  come  in  new  measure.  He 
had  already  given  the  Spirit  to  His  disciples  as 
His  own,  and  therein  given  attestation  also  to 
His  Messiahship  (John  3  :  34) ;  but,  now  that 
He  is  going  in  a  new  way,  the  Spirit  is  to  come 
with  new  outpourings  of  abundant  life  and  power. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles  He 
had  made  the  promise.  Any  man  might  be  sat- 
isfied. He  said,  and  also  the  fountain  of  exhaust- 
less  satisfaction  to  others.  "This  spake  He  of 
the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believed  on  Him  were 
to  receive,"  explains  John,  '^  for  the  Spirit  was 
not  yet  given ;  because  Jesus  was  not  yet  glori- 
fied "  (John  7:37-39).  Then  when  Jesus  was 
glorified  the  Spirit  would  come,  ''the  Comforter, 


JESUS    AND    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT  lOJ 

the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in 
My  name"  (John  14:26).  *' I  will  pray  the 
Father,  and  He  shall  give  you  another  Com- 
forter" (John  14:  16).  It  was  good  for  Jesus 
to  leave.  If  He  had  not,  the  Comforter  would 
not  have  come  (John  16:7). 

5.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  has  advantages  over 
Jesus.  Jesus  was  confined  to  one  place.  The 
Spirit  is  everywhere  (John  14  :i6).     Further, 

He  shall  teach  you  all  things. 

He  shall  bring  to  your  remembrance  all  that  I 
said. 

He  shall  bear  witness  of  Me. 

He  will  convict  the  world. 

He  shall  guide  you  into  all  truth. 

He  shall  not  speak  from  Himself. 

Whatsoever  things  He  shall  hear,  these  shall 
He  speak. 

He  shall  declare  unto  you  things  that  are  to  come. 

He  shall  glorify  Me. 

For  He  shall  take  of  Mine,  and  shall  declare 
it  unto  you  (John  14 :  26 ;  15  :  26 ;  16  :  8,  13, 14). 

The  supreme  work  of  the  Spirit  is  the  exalta_ 
tion  of  Christ.  The  evidence  of  His  presence  is 
the  preeminence  of  Christ.  Neither  eloquence 
nor  miracle  is  as  valid  testimony  to  His  indwell- 
ing as  the  testimony  of  a  memory  full  of  the 
things  that  He  said,  a  life  bearing  witness  to  His 
power  to  save,  and  a  heart  tender  with  love  for 
Him  and  for  those  He  died  to  redeem. 


208  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

6.  After  His  resurrection  Jesus  held  His  disci- 
ples under  the  sense  of  the  Spirit's  nearness 
(John  20  :  22)  j  and  His  farewell  charge  to  them 
was  that  they  should  remain  in  Jerusalem  until 
His  promise  was  fulfilled  (Luke  24 :  49 ;  Acts 
1:8).  The  two  great  phrases  which  were  last  in 
their  ears  as  He  was  taken  from  them  were, — 

The  Power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Uttermost  Parts  of  the  Earth. 

What  Christ  joined  together  we  may  strive  in 
vain  to  put  asunder.  The  power  that  He  prom- 
ised is  not  the  power  to  do  our  own  will,  or  to 
imitate  another's  life,  whether  apostle  or  saint ; 
it  is  the  power  to  do  our  assigned  part  in  the 
work  of  bearing  witness  to  Jesus  Christ  to  all 
mankind. 

All  teaching  about  the  Holy  Spirit  that  ignores 
or  subordinates  His  relation  to  Christ,  as  the  sub- 
stance of  all  the  Spirit's  ministry,  and  to  the 
world  as  the  object  of  all  the  Spirit's  toil,  is  alien 
to  the  teaching  of  Him  in  answer  to  whose  pray- 
ers the  Spirit  of  truth  and  testimony  was  given. 


XLVI 

JESUS    AND   THE   BIBLE 

1.  The  roots  of  Jesus'  work,  the  outlines  of 
His  mission,  the  hneaments  of  His  character,  the 
germs  of  His  teaching,  and  the  offers  of  God  to 
men,  which  they  had  misused,  misunderstood, 
and  rejected,  and  which  Jesus  came  to  reaffirm, 
to  clarify,  and  to  urge  on  men,  were  all  in  the 
Old  Testament.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Jesus 
studied  it.  It  was  His  Father's  message  to  the 
world,  and  it  spoke  of  Him.  Though  He  was 
but  a  poor  village  lad,  working  at  a  trade.  He  set 
Himself  to  learn  the  language  in  which  the  Old 
Testament  was  written,  that  He  might  read  His 
Father's  words  as  holy  men  and  prophets  spoke 
them.  In  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth  the  roll  of 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  was  given  to  Him,  and 
He  read  to  the  people  as  His  custom  was  in  the 
original  Hebrew,  and  explained  it  to  the  people 
to  whom  it  had  become  a  dead  language,  as  Latin 
has  in  Italy,  Aramaic  and  Greek  having  taken  the 
place  of  Hebrew  with  the  Jew  (Luke  4  :  16-27). 

2.  He  mastered  the  Old  Testament  thoroughly, 
and  His  teaching  is  full  of  quotations  from  it  and 
of  appeals  to  it.     He  refers  to  the  flood  (Matt. 

209 


210  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

24  :  37-39) ;  to  Solomon's  splendor  (Matt.  6  :  29) ; 
to  Moses'  injunctions  (Matt.  8:4);  to  the  patri- 
archs (Matt.  8  :  11);  to  the  fate  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  (Matt.  10  :  15  ;  11  :  23,  24);  to  Da- 
vid's hunger  and  its  satisfaction  with  the  shew- 
bread  (Matt.  1 2  :  3-7) ;  to  the  story  of  Jonah 
and  Nineveh  (Matt.  12  :  39-41).  He  adopts 
Isaiah's  explanation  of  doubt  and  unbelief  (Matt. 
13  :  14,  15)  ;  and  His  condemnation  of  hypocrisy 
(Matt.  15  :  7-9);  He  explains  the  Mosaic  per- 
mission of  divorce  (Matt.  19  :  8,  9)  ;  summarizes 
the  Old  Testament  law  (Matt.  19  :  18,  19;  Mark 
12:28-33);  quotes  Ps.  8  :  2 ;  110:1;  118:22; 
Isa.  8:14,  15;  53:12;  Ex.  s'^J  Zech. 
13:7;  and  many  other  passages.  Where  does 
He  quote  the  verses  mentioned  ?  Find  ten  other 
quotations. 

3.  But  in  a  far  more  pervasive  manner  than 
this  the  Old  Testament  shaped  the  thoughts  and 
acts  of  Jesus.  His  metaphors  describing  Him- 
self are  suggested  by  the  Old  Testament.  Find 
the  passages. 

Some  of  His  parables  are  amplifications  of  Old 
Testament  metaphors  or  illustrations.  Find  proof 
of  this.  And  even  His  miracles  seem  often  to  be 
but  the  development  in  visible  form  of  Old  Testa- 
ment teachings  and  truths.     Which  ones  ? 

His  own  life  also  was  the  full  personal  repre- 
sentation of  the  divine  Old  Testament  ideals  of 
character  and  service.     This  is  the  meaning  of 


JESUS    AND   THE    BIBLE  211 

the  constant  declaration,  "  that  the  Scripture 
might  be  fulfilled."  Make  a  list  of  all  these 
passages  and  of  the  Old  Testament  foretelling  to 
which  they  refer. 

4.  Jesus  reverenced  the  Old  Testament.  It 
was  not  to  be  superseded  as  worthless.  It  was  to 
be  completed  (Luke  24  :  44  ;  Mark  14  :  49).  It 
was  not  to  be  broken  (John  10  :  35). 

Not  a  jot  or  tittle  of  it,  or,  as  we  should  say, 
not  the  dot  of  an  /  or  the  cross  of  a  /  was  to  pass 
away  till  it  was  all  fulfilled  (Matt.  5  :  18).  It  was 
the  book  which  testified  of  Him  in  all  the  speech 
and  spirit  of  it  (John  5  :  39).  In  the  hour  of 
temptation  and  in  the  work  of  life  the  final  ap- 
peal was  to  its  statements.  It  was  enough  for 
Jesus  that  it  was  written  there;  yet  it  was  not 
enough.  Satan  quoted  the  Old  Testament  to 
Jesus.  That  was  not  enough.  Jesus  quoted  it  to 
Satan.  That  was  enough.  The  Old  Testament 
was  true  and  final  taken  in  God's  meanings 
(Matt.  4:  i-ii).  Jesus'  quotations  from  it,  ac- 
cordingly, were  sometimes  pretty  free,  so  as  to 
bring  out  more  clearly  to  His  hearers  its  real 
divine  significance. 

5.  Jesus  Himself  was  a  fountain  of  fresh 
ethical  judgments,  but  He  constantly  appealed  to 
the  Old  Testament  as  supplying  the  noblest  moral 
principles.  The  Golden  Rule  He  declared  was 
simply  the  teaching  of  the  law  and  the  prophets 
(Matt.  7  :  12).     Twice  He  quoted  an  Old  Testa- 


212  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

ment  saying  as  embodying  the  vital  principle  of 
ethics  and  of  life  (Matt.  9:13;  12:7;  Hos. 
6  :  6).  And  the  whole  round  of  life's  duty,  love 
of  God  and  man,  He  found  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment (Mark  12:  28-34).  The  errors  of  men 
were  due  to  their  ignorance  of  it  and  of  the  God 
whom  it  revealed  (Matt.  22  :  29). 

6.  Jesus  studied  the  Old  Testament  by  verses, 
holding  them  in  His  memory,  and  quoting  them 
in  His  conversation,  in  His  spiritual  crises  (Matt. 
4:  i-ii ;  Luke  23  :  46;  cf.  Ps.  31  :  5);  in  His 
controversies  (Mark  12:  18-27,  3^-37;  Matt. 
21  :  42).  He  studied  it  by  books  and  divisions 
(Luke  24  :  44) ;  and  He  mastered  it  as  a  whole, 
so  that  it  stretched  in  its  vast  range  before  His 
mind  and  revealed  to  Him  its  inner  relations,  its 
just  perspectives,  its  particular  and  its  general 
spirit  (Luke  24:  45,  46;  Matt.  5:  17-48).  It 
nourished  His  own  life,  and  with  it  He  fed  and 
guided  other  lives. 

7.  Jesus  probably  owned  no  Bible,  as  Stalker 
points  out.  The  Bible  existed  then  only  in  rolls, 
copied  by  hand,  cumbersome  and  expensive. 
Jesus  probably  never  had  money  enough  to  buy  a 
set  of  these  rolls,  or  even  a  few  of  them.  More- 
over, His  Bible  was  only  the  Old  Testament. 
Our  Bible  is  immeasurably  richer — Gospels  and 
Epistles  added  to  law  and  psalm  and  prophecy. 
Is  it  not  shameful  that  with  the  power  to  own  the 
whole  Bible,  and  with  a  Bible  so  rich  and  perfect 


JESUS    AND    THE    BIBLE  2I3 

in  comparison  with  Christ's,  we  should  treat  it 
with  such  neglect?  And  this  is  stranger  still 
when  we  remember  that  it  is  the  Bible  which 
testifies  of  Jesus  and  opens  His  life  to  our  life 
and  love  (John  5  :  39). 


XLVil 

JESUS   AND   THE   PLEASURES   OF   LIFE 

I.  What  was  the  attitude  of  Jesus  towards 
the  pleasures  of  life  ?  That  question  necessitates 
another.  What  are  the  pleasures  of  life  ?  Some 
mean  by  the  phrase  sensual  gratification,  or  the 
indulgence  of  the  appetites,  or  that  which  grati- 
fies or  pleases  the  senses.  Jesus  used  the  word 
in  this  meaning  in  Luke  8  :  14.  Explaining  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  He  says  :  '*  That  which  fell 
among  the  thorns,  these  are  they  that  have  heard, 
and  as  they  go  on  their  way  they  are  choked  with 
cares  and  riches  and  pleasures  of  this  life,  and 
bring  no  fruit  to  perfection."  This  statement  of 
Jesus  we  see  attested  about  us  every  day.  People 
put  worldly  pleasures  in  the  place  of  God. 
Frivolous,  light-minded,  fond  of  superficial  things, 
spending  time  and  strength  in  things  that  merely 
please  the  senses  or  give  a  little  passing  physical 
pleasure,  or  serve  to  kill  the  time, — the  theatre, 
cards,  dancing,  eating  for  the  sake  of  eating, 
dress, — these  people  are  choked  so  that  they  are 
undeveloped  and  bring  no  spiritual  or  worthy 
fruit  to  perfection. 

214 


JESUS  AND  THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIFE       215 

2.  But  did  Jesus  mean  to  condemn  thus  all 
thought  about  our  food  and  dress,  and  everything 
save  what  is  serious,  and  all  pleasure  in  life? 
No.  He  did  condemn  all  excessive  thought 
about  food  and  dress,  and  all  anxious  care  about 
such  things  (Matt.  6:  19-34).  But  He  went  to 
a  marriage-feast  with  His  disciples  (John  2  :  i,  2). 
He  told  His  disciples  what  to  do  when  they  made 
feasts  (Luke  14:  13);  and  He  accepted  invita- 
tions to  other  social  festivities  (Luke  5  :  29 ; 
John  12:  2;  Matt.  9:  11;  Luke  13:  26).  In- 
deed this  was  so  regularly  His  custom  that,  criti- 
cising His  associations,  the  Pharisees  called  Him 
"a  gluttonous  man  and  a  wine-bibber"  (Luke 
5  •  S^'y  7  •  34)-  Yet  He  took  no  care  for  such 
things,  and  never  went  to  them  for  the  food  and 
drink.  He  made  them  occasions  for  spiritual 
teaching  (Luke  7  :  36-50;  11 :  37-40;  14:  1-14). 
He  sought  no  physical  indulgence,  even  neglected 
food  (John  4:  31-34;  Mark  3  :  20,  21).  That 
He  was  always  personally  careful  in  dress  and  ap- 
pearance we  may  be  sure,  but  Jesus  did  not  seek 
or  desire  worldly  pleasure,  and  as  an  exclusive 
end  in  itself  He  could  never  have  approved  it. 
The  early  Church  perceived  this  (Tit.  3 :  3 ; 
2  Pet.  2 :  13;  I  Tim.  5:6;  Jas.  5  :  5).  These 
last  two  verses,  however,  use  words  for  pleasure 
signifying  voluptuousness  and  luxury.  All  waste, 
extravagance,  vulgar  display,  selfishness,  prodi- 
gality, exclusiveness,  are  hostile  to  the  spirit  of 


2l6  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Jesus'  life  and  teaching.     He  condemned  all  this 
(Luke  12  :  19-21). 

3.  Jesus'  constant  emphasis  was  on  what  is 
serious  and  enduring.  He  forbade  men  to  be 
engrossed  in  the  things  of  this  present  world 
(Matt.  6  :  19,  20;  13  :  22  ;  Luke  16  :  13).  Yet 
He  perceived  its  beauty,  and  not  a  word  of  as- 
cetic littleness  or  morbidness  ever  appeared  in 
His  teaching  (Matt.  6  :  28,  29 ;  Luke  15  :  11-32). 
He  is  glad,  we  may  be  sure,  to  have  us  go  through 
life  admiring  the  beauty  that  God  has  made  in  it, 
and  accepting  gladly  the  simple  and  sincerest  joy 
and  happiness  of  it  (Matt.  18  ;  1-3;  6  :  16).  He 
bids  us  accept  its  hardship  and  persecutions  and 
pain  when  our  duty  leads  through  them,  and  to 
rejoice  in  these  (Matt.  5  :  10-12 ;  10  :  34-39). 
But  He  also  forbids  all  self-immolation  (Matt. 
10  :  23  ;  5  :  25,  41).  Life  will  bring  enough  of 
solemnity  and  suffering  without  our  needlessly  in- 
creasing it. 

4.  As  Jesus  taught,  there  are  other  pleasures 
than  these  lower  animal  and  sensual  and  aesthetic 
ones.  Anything  constitutes  our  pleasure,  as  Sedg- 
wick says,  that  we  like  or  prefer.  Thus  Jesus 
says,  <<It  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give 
you  the  kingdom"  (Luke  12:  32).  And  Paul 
often  speaks  of  the  pleasure  of  God  (Eph.  i  : 
5,  9;  Phil.  2:  13;  2  Thess.  i:  11),  and  our 
power  to  please  Him  (i  Thess.  2  :  4,  5  ;  4:1; 
Gal.   I  :   15;   I  Cor.   12:  18;  Col.  i:  19).     In 


JESUS  AND  THE  PLEASURES  OF  LIFE       21/ 

some  of  these  passages  the  word  translated 
"please"  means  ''thmk  well,"  or  ''choose." 
What  I  wish  to  do  is  what  pleases  me.  And 
Jesus  came  to  lift  the  whole  set  of  life's  tastes 
and  desires  to  a  new  and  higher  plane  of  pleas- 
ure, to  fill  men  with  joy;  but  the  joy  not  of 
sense,  but  of  spirit,  not  of  this  world  only,  but 
of  the  world  to  come  as  well. 

5.  The  only  true  pleasures  of  this  life  are  the 
pleasures  of  the  life  above  and  beyond  this, — the 
pleasures  of  love  and  sympathy  and  service  and 
devotion  and  gladness  of  soul,  and  elevation  of 
mind  and  union  of  life.  Christ's  message  is  so 
glorious  because  it  includes  all  this  (i  Tim.  4:8; 
2  Tim.  I ;  I ;  I  Cor.  3  :  21-23  '}  Matt.  6  :  33), 
and  has  power  even  to  take  the  hardships  and 
pains  of  life  and  to  transmute  them  into  gladness 
and  contentment  (2  Cor.  12:  10). 


XLVIII 

JESUS    AND    THE    PURPOSE   OF   LIFE 

What  Jesus  did  in  His  life  is  the  best  revela- 
tion of  the  purpose  of  life.  What  did  He  do? 
As  Phillips  Brooks  said  in  his  lecture  on  personal 
experience : — 

"  I.  He  forgave  men's  sins,  and  so  set  them  free  for  a 
new  life. 

"  2.  He  declared  such  a  doctrine  of  humanity  as  made 
that  new  life  seem  to  be  the  natural  life  of  man. 

"  3.  He  put  the  power  of  that  new  life  into  men,  and 
made  them  strong  with  a  power  which  they  knew  was 
not  their  own. 

"  4,  He  comforted  men  for  their  sorrows  with  a  posi- 
tive consolation  which  made  even  their  sorrows  a  source 
of  strength. 

"  5.  He  glorified  life,  filling  it  with  joy  and  making  it 
seem  a  beautiful  and  noble  thing  to  live. 

"  6.  He  adjusted  men's  relations  to  each  other  by 
making  them  have  common  love  for  Himself. 

"  7.  He  set  unselfishness  as  the  law  of  men's  lives, 
making  them  first  devoted  to  Him  and  then,  for  His  sake, 
to  one  another. 

"  8.  He  made  life  spiritual^  making  the  soul  more  than 
the  body. 

"  9.     He   declared  immortality   to   the  soul,  making  it 
know  itself  stronger  than  death." 
21S 


JESUS    AND    THE    PURPOSE    OF    LIFE       2I9 

Read  the  Gospels  to  discover  the  evidence  that 
Jesus  did  these  things,  and  you  will  perceive 
afresh  that  in  these  things  He  revealed  the  real 
purposes  of  life. 

1.  It  is  to  be  a  service  of  God  (Matt.  6  :  24) ; 
in  love  (Mark  12  :  30)  ;  in  holiness  (Matt.  5  :  48). 

2.  It  is  to  be  a  service  of  man  (Matt.  10  :  28 ; 
Luke  22:  26,  27);  in  love  (Mark  12:  31);  in 
humility  (Matt.  20  :  26). 

But  sin  has  wrecked  the  human  spirit  so  that  it 
does  not  care  to  render  this  service,  and  even  re- 
fuses to  see  that  this  is  the  purpose  of  life.  Sin 
keeps  men  from  believing  on  Christ  (John  16  :  9) ; 
and,  not  beUeving  on  Christ,  they  cannot  per- 
ceive or  accept  that  purpose  of  life  which  Jesus 
discloses  as  its  real  significance. 

1.  Jesus  showed  that  the  purpose  of  life  is  not 
selfish.  He  left  heaven  and  the  peace  of  God  and 
its  calm  and  love,  to  take  on  Him  our  flesh  and 
to  die  for  us  in  lowliness  and  shame  (Phil.  2  :  1-8 ; 
Heb.  12:2).  In  His  view  the  fundamental 
principle  of  a  true  life  is  not  gain,  but  use.  His 
declaration  in  plain  words  to  this  effect  (Mark 
10  :  45  ;  Acts  20  :  35),  was  not  clearer  than  the 
constant  example  of  His  life  (John  13  :  1^15). 

2.  The  purpose  of  life  is  not  to  prolong  it  and 
to  preserve  it.  It  is  a  common  and  radical  error 
of  our  modern  thinking  that  life  is  the  supreme 
thing,  and  that  its  preservation  justifies  any 
course.     A  lie  is   better  than  death,  men  say. 


220  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

But  this  was  not  Jesus'  view.  He  had  power  to 
keep  His  life ;  yet  He  laid  it  down  of  Himself 
(John  lo  :  i8).  Honor,  truth,  service,  love — all 
these  are  better  than  life,  and  life  must  always  be 
held  of  inferior  value  to  these.  Every  course  of 
action  which  first  occupies  itself  in  reckoning  the 
cost  in  life,  and  then  holds  back  from  any  sacri- 
fice of  life  for  principle,  is  alien  to  the  spirit  of 
Christ  (Matt.  i6  :  21-26). 

3.  The  true  purpose  of  life  is  serious  and 
noble.  It  is  not  diversion  or  amusement.  The 
very  etymology  of  the  words  reveals  the  pitiable 
shame  of  finding  the  object  of  life  in  such  things. 
The  purpose  of  life  does  not  consist  in  turning  us 
aside  from  the  main  issues.  It  is  not  lust  or  evil 
or  sport  or  money-getting.  It  is  not  found  in 
things. 

4.  It  is  found  in  the  companionship  of  Jesus, 
and  of  those  who  follow  Jesus.  In  that  company 
life  finds  its  true  significance.  It  is  pure  (Matt. 
5:8;  Jas.  I  :  27;  2  Tim.  2  :  22).  It  is  free 
(John  8  :  31,  32).  It  is  friendly  (John  13  :  i ; 
15:  13).  It  is  strong  (Eph.  6:  10;  2  Tim. 
2:1;  I  John  2:  14;  I  Cor.  i:  25).  It  is 
eternal  (i  John  2  :  17).  Jesus  sets  forth  its  char- 
acter in  His  life — to  do  God's  will  (John  6  :  38 ; 
Heb.  10 :  7).  He  promises  it  full  nourishment 
(John  6:51;  4:34).  Metaphor  upon  metaphor 
sets  forth  its  nature  and  privilege — ''  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world"  (Matt.  5  :  14)  ;   ''  Ye  are  the 


JESUS    AND    THE    PURPOSE    OF    LIFE       221 

salt  of  the  earth  "  (Matt.  5  :  13)  ;  wells  of  living 
water  will  be  in  us  (John  4  :  14);  torrents  of 
living  water  will  flow  from  us  (John  7  :  38).  If 
we  are  willing  to  do  the  will  of  God,  the  secrets 
of  the  Highest  and  the  Unseen  will  unfold  for  us, 
and  the  true  purpose  of  life  will  unveil  for  us  its 
hidden  mystery  (John  7  :  17).  Following  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  purpose  of  His  life,  we  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life 
(John  8  :  12),  and  shall  but  begin  to  live  and 
work  when  life  is  done.  ''And  he  showed  me 
the  holy  city.  .  .  .  And  the  throne  of  God  and 
of  the  Lamb  shall  be  therein ;  and  His  servants 
shall  do  Him  service;  and  they  shall  see  His 
face ;  and  His  name  shall  be  on  their  foreheads. 
And  there  shall  be  night  no  more;  and  they 
need  no  light  of  lamp,  neither  light  of  sun ;  for 
the  Lord  God  shall  give  them  light ;  and  they 
shall  reign  forever  and  ever"  (Rev.  21:  10; 
22  :  3-5)- 


XLIX 

JESUS    AND   THE   CITY 

1.  From  one  point  of  view  it  may  be  said  that 
Jesus  knew  nothing  of  cities.  The  so-called  cities 
of  His  country  were  in  our  view  merely  towns. 
The  place  of  His  birth  men  called  then  *'the 
city  of  David  "  (Luke  2  :  3,  11).  We  call  it  the 
*' little  town  of  Bethlehem."  Even  Jerusalem, 
the  largest  city  of  His  country,  could  not  have 
exceeded  in  population  200,000  souls.  And  the 
cities  of  Palestine  were  not  only  not  cities  in  our 
sense  in  population,  but  in  character  they  were 
just  magnified  villages  as  the  cities  of  Asia  are  to 
this  day,  organized  on  a  patriarchal  plan  or  as  a 
community  of  villages  or  trade  interests,  each  guild 
constituting  a  sort  of  separate  village  life  within 
the  community.  Our  problems  of  industrial  or- 
ganization in  the  city,  of  municipal  politics,  of 
social  discontent,  of  slum  and  saloon  were  not 
known  in  the  cities  of  Israel.  In  short  they  were 
not  cities  in  our  view. 

2.  From  another  point  of  view  Jesus  knew 
practically  nothing  but  city  life.  There  was  then 
as  there  is  now  in  Asia  practically  no  rural  life  in 
which  the  farmer  lives  alone,  separate  on  his  own 

222 


JESUS    AND    THE    CITY  223 

soil.  The  organization  of  society  and  the  perils 
of  isolation  drove  all  into  community  life.  And 
the  metaphors  of  the  New  Testament,  the  body 
metaphors,  the  metaphor  of  the  marriage  union, 
bear  testimony  to  the  compactness  of  life  into 
which  the  gospel  came  and  to  which  it  was  to 
minister. 

3.  So,  of  necessity,  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus 
were  set  in  cities,  or  what  were  cities  to  His  peo- 
ple and  land.  He  was  city  born  (Luke  2  :  11), 
and  city  bred  (Matt.  9:1;  Luke  4:  16).  The 
city  filled  a  large  place  in  His  teaching  (Matt. 
5  :  14,  35  ;  10  :  15  ;  12  :  25  ;  Luke  18  :  2).  He 
declared  that  His  mission  was  to  cities  (Luke 
4 :  43).  And  it  was  to  the  cities  that  He  sent 
His  disciples.  He  sent  them,  we  read,  two  by 
two  into  all  the  cities  to  which  He  Himself  de- 
signed to  come  (Luke  10  :  i).  When  persecuted 
in  one  city  He  bade  them  to  flee,  not  to  the  coun- 
try, but  to  another  city  (Matt.  lo :  23 ;  cf. 
10:  II,  23;  Luke  9  :  5).  His  own  work  took 
Him  about  teaching  and  preaching  ''in  their 
cities"  (Matt.  11  :  i  ;  cf.  9  :  35  ;  Luke  13  :  22; 
4 :  29 ;  John  4 :  39).  And  the  cities  were  pro- 
foundly moved  by  Him.  It  was  so  at  the  begin- 
ning (Mark  i  :  ^^).  And  it  was  so  at  the  end 
(Matt.  21  :  10).  The  last  week  of  His  life  was 
spent  upon  the  one  great  city  of  His  nation. 
How  strangely  modern  the  description  of  His 
habit  sounds  !  '^  And  every  evening  He  went  forth 


224  '^^^    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

out  of  the  city"  (Matt,  ii  :  19).  Yet  His  way 
was  not  the  way  of  suburban  life.  Now  men  go 
into  the  city  to  get  and  take  out.  Then  Jesus 
went  out  into  the  country  to  get  and  bring  in. 
He  spent  Himself  in  and  upon  the  city.  And  it 
was  a  city  that  crucified  Him,  while  a  city  man 
buried  Him  in  what  was  really  a  city  sepulchre 
(Luke  23  :  51).  Jesus  loved  the  country,  but  He 
was  a  man  of  life  and  He  lived  and  worked  and 
died  in  the  city. 

4.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  there  are  those  who 
say  that  He  spoke  too  much  to  the  individual  and 
that  His  message  ignored,  as  Mill,  in  his  essay 
on  Liberty^  complains  that  Christianity  has  done, 
public  duties  and  virtues.  It  was  a  gospel  for  the 
unit,  not  for  the  community,  men  say.  (i)  But 
suppose  it  was.  The  fact  that  Jesus'  message  was 
addressed  to  men  in  the  only  way  in  which  it 
could  reach  them  in  the  first  century  is  no  evi- 
dence that  it  would  have  been  addressed  to  men 
of  the  twentieth  century  in  precisely  the  same 
form.  Even  if  Jesus  had  spoken  only  of  the  in- 
dividual then  we  may  be  sure,  as  Harnack  says, 
''that  if  Jesus  were  with  us  to-day,  He  would 
side  with  those  who  are  making  great  efforts  to 
relieve  the  hard  lot  of  the  poor  and  procure  them 
better  conditions  of  life.  The  fallacious  principle 
of  the  free  play  of  forces,  of  the  'live  and  let 
live '  principle  :  — a  better  name  for  it  would  be 
'live   and   let  die' — is  entirely  opposed  to  the 


JESUS    AND   THE    CITY  225 

gospel."  Jesus  spoke  to  the  needs  of  His  time. 
If  here  to-day  He  would  speak  to  our  needs. 

(2)  But  what  is  the  sense  of  erecting  such  an  an- 
tagonism between  a  social  and  an  individual 
gospel?  The  gospel  that  is  to  redeem  society 
can  do  it  only  by  redeeming  the  units  of  society. 
Community  morality  rests  upon  personal  morality. 
And  on  the  other  hand  individual  effort  can  at- 
tain its  goal  only  when  the  community  life 
and  atmosphere  are  what  they  should  be.  This 
is  one  reason  why  law  should  always  be  in  ad- 
vance of  a  great  body  of  public  opinion — to  fur- 
nish ideal  and  sanction  above  the  attainment  of 
a  large  mass  of  men  and  thus  aid  personal  effort. 

(3)  And  as  a  matter  of  fact  Jesus  did  speak  both 
to  man  and  to  men.  He  laid  upon  His  disciples 
the  duty  of  unselfishness,  of  social  service.  Self- 
development  could  come  only  through  self-aban- 
donment (Matt.  10 :  39),  and  the  end  of  life  was 
use  (Luke  22  :  24-27).  He  continually  defines 
the  duties  of  life  in  terms  not  of  personal  privilege 
or  possession  or  culture,  but  in  terms  of  brotherly 
service  and  helpfulness  (John  13  :  34,  35).  He 
spoke  to  men  in  their  social  relationships. 

5.  And  thus  at  the  outset  Christianity  laid 
hold  upon  the  communities  of  men  as  well  as 
upon  individuals  among  men.  The  book  of  Acts 
contains  expressions  like  these  :  ''He  preached 
the  gospel  to  all  the  cities  "  (Acts  8  :  40).  ''  The 
whole  city  was  gathered  together  to  hear  "  (Acts 


226  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

13  :  44).  '*  The  city  was  filled  with  confusion  " 
(Acts  19:  29).  ''The  city  was  moved  "  (Acts 
21  :  30).  And  in  every  city  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
bearing  His  witness  (Acts  20  :  23).  The  abiding 
impress  of  the  early  dominance  of  Christianity 
over  the  city  remains  upon  our  language  in  the 
words  ''  pagan  "  and  "  heathen."  ''  The  Church 
fixed  itself  first,"  says  Trench,  ''in  the  seats  and 
centres  of  intelligence,  in  the  towns  and  cities 
of  the  Roman  Empire;  in  them  its  earliest 
triumphs  were  won :  while  long  after  these  had 
accepted  the  truth,  heathen  superstitions  and 
idolatries  lingered  on  in  the  obscure  villages  and 
hamlets ;  so  that  '  pagans '  or  villagers  came  to 
be  applied  to  all  the  remaining  votaries  of  the  old 
and  decayed  superstition.  .  .  .  The  Church  of 
Christ  planted  itself  first  in  the  haunts  of  learning 
and  intelligence  .  .  .  had  its  claims  first  recog- 
nized by  them,  and  in  the  great  cities  of  the  world 
won  first  a  complete  triumph  over  all  opposing 
powers." 

6.  And  Jesus  and  the  city  belong  together 
still.  The  city  needs  Him.  It  needs  Him  as 
the  standard  of  its  righteousness,  to  sharpen  its 
moral  judgments,  to  set  up  before  it  the  right 
principles.  The  city  has  no  right  to  take  as  its 
standard  the  appetites  and  ideas  of  European  im- 
migrants, the  desires  of  the  depraved  or  the  truth- 
betraying  tolerance  of  the  easy  going  or  the  care- 
less.    Christ  is  its  true  standard.     And  He  is  the 


JESUS   AND   THE    CITY  227 

redeemer  of  the  city's  life,  the  realization  of  His 
ideals  in  it.  If  the  city  needs  Christ  He  also  de- 
sires the  city.  He  was  filled  with  pity  for  its  lost 
opportunities  and  for  its  comfortlessness.  ''O 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not !  "  (Matt.  23  :  37.)  "And  when  He 
drew  nigh.  He  saw  the  city  and  wept  over  it, 
saying,  If  thou  hadst  known  in  this  day,  even 
thou,  the  things  which  belong  to  peace  I  but  now 
they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes  "  (Luke  19  :  41,  42). 
Jesus  deemed  the  service  of  the  city  a  privilege, 
and  the  last  warning  of  the  Bible  holds  out  as  its 
curse  the  withdrawal  of  the  offender's  share  in 
the  Hfe  and  work  of  the  Holy  City  (Rev.  22  :  19). 
7.  These  were  among  Jesus'  last  injunctions  : 
*'  Go  ye  into  the  city  "  (Mark  14 :  13).  "  Tarry 
ye  in  the  city  "  (Luke  22  :  49). 


JESUS  AND  THE  NATIONS 

1.  The  race  to  which  Jesus  belonged  had  de- 
veloped <'an  intense  sentiment  of  nationality." 
This  displayed  itself  in  many  ways  in  the  lifetime 
of  Jesus.  One  argument  advanced  for  suppress- 
ing Jesus  was  that  if  He  were  let  alone  *'the 
Romans  will  come  and  take  away  our  place  and 
nation"  (John  ii  :  48).  It  was  better  accord- 
ingly, it  was  urged,  to  have  Jesus  sacrificed 
''that  the  whole  nation  perish  not"  (John 
II  :  50).  On  the  pleasanter  side,  the  elders  who 
interceded  in  behalf  of  the  centurion  at  Caper- 
naum, did  so  on  the  ground  that  He  *'  loveth  our 
nation  "  (Luke  7  :  5).  Jesus  was  recognized  as  a 
member  of  their  nation,  sharer  in  its  glories  and 
high  spirit. 

2.  But  Jesus  was  not  sharer  in  its  narrowness 
and  exclusivism.  One  of  His  earliest  sermons 
gave  great  offense  because  He  laid  emphasis  on  the 
outreaching  grace  of  God.  Elijah,  He  pointed 
out,  had  been  sent  to  none  of  the  widows  of 
Israel  in  the  days  of  famine  but  to  a  Sidonian 
woman,  and  Elisha  had  cleansed  no  lepers  of 
Israel  but  only  Naaman,  the  Syrian.     "  And  they 

228 


JESUS    AND    THE    NATIONS  229 

were  all  filled  with  wrath  as  they  heard  these 
things"  (Luke  4:  25-29).  The  same  spirit  of 
nationalistic  narrowness,  from  which  Jesus  was 
free,  found  expression  in  the  sneer  of  the  Jews  at 
Jesus'  declaration,  '^  Ye  shall  seek  Me  and  shall 
not  find  Me ;  and  where  I  am,  ye  cannot  come. 
The  Jews  therefore  said  among  themselves. 
Whither  will  this  man  go  that  we  shall  not  find 
Him  ?  Will  He  go  unto  the  Dispersion  among 
the  Greeks,  and  teach  the  Greeks?"  (John 
7  •  34>  35-)  -^s  though  in  contrast  with  this 
smallness  of  vision,  John  proceeds  to  relate  the 
words  of  Jesus  on  the  last,  the  great  day  of  the 
Feast  of  Tabernacles,  beginning,  ^'If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink"  (John 

r-  37)- 

3.  This  contrast  between  the  attitude  of  Jesus 
and  the  attitude  of  the  Jews  is  sharply  presented 
in  their  relations  to  the  Samaritans.  The  Jews  had 
no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans  (John  4:  9),  and 
when  they  would  be  especially  bitter  and  con- 
temptuous in  their  reference  to  Jesus  they  said  to 
Him,  "  Thou  art  a  Samaritan  and  hast  a  devil " 
(John  8 :  48).  The  later  tradition  declared, 
"It  is  forbidden  to  eat  bread  or  to  drink  wine 
with  the  Samaritans."  But  Jesus  ignored  and 
violated  these  restraints.  "He  went  and  entered 
into  a  village  of  the  Samaritans  "  (Luke  9 :  52). 
H^  sent  His  disciples  into  a  Samaritan  village  to 
dny  lOod  and  welcomed  the  people  of  the  village 


230  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

to  faith  and  discipleship  (John  4  :  39-42).  And 
He  dehberately  gave  to  a  Samaritan  a  place  in 
one  of  His  most  exquisite  parables  above  Levite 
and  priest  (Luke  10  :  33). 

4.  It  was  significant  that  the  first  people  to 
recognize  the  universal  mission  of  Jesus  were 
Samaritans.  <'We  know  that  this  is  indeed  the 
Saviour  of  the  world,"  they  said  (John  4:  42). 
Yet  in  some  sense,  this  sweep  of  the  work  of 
Jesus  had  been  already  perceived.  The  song  of 
the  angels  suggested  it  (Luke  2  :  10,  14).  Aged 
Simeon  foresaw  it.  ''  Mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation,"  he  said  as  the  child  Jesus  lay  in  his 
arms, 

«*  Which  Thou  hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  peoples 
A  light  for  revelation  to  the  Gentiles  "  (Luke  2:31,  32). 

And  John  the  Baptist  hinted  at  it  also :  ''  The 
lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world  "(John  i  :  29).  Thenceforward  it  was  re- 
vealed with  increasing  clearness  that  Jesus  was  in 
the  world  for  the  world.  He  said.  Himself,  that 
the  field  was  the  world  (Matt.  13  :  38).  His 
disciples  were  the  light  of  the  world  (Matt. 
5  :  14),  as  He  had  come  a  light  into  the  world 
(John  12:46),  and  was  Himself  the  world's 
light  (John  8:  12).  He  called  Himself  the 
bread  of  God  which  had  come  down  for  the  life 
of  the  world  (John  6  :  ;^^,  35). 

5.  Indeed,  throughout,  Jesus  will  admit   no 


JESUS  aKd  the  nations  13 1 

narrower  field  of  work  and  salvation  for  Himself 
than  the  world.  There  are  apparently  contra- 
dictory statements.  "  I  am  not  sent  but  unto 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel"    (Matt. 

15  :  24).  "Go  not  into  any  way  of  the  Gentiles 
and  enter  not  into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  " 
(Matt.  10  :  5).  Jesus  had  to  make  a  beginning. 
His  immediate  mission  was  to  Israel.  The  only 
way  in  which  any  larger  mission  could  be  made 
possible  was  by  the  discharge  of  this  mission  to 
the  Jews.  A  salvation  for  all  was  to  be  wrought 
out  in  time  and  space  and  until  the  work  was 
done  the  field  was  confined.  But  beyond  all 
the  immediate  and  preparatory  work  lay  the 
universal  reaches  of  a  redemption  for  all  mankind. 
Jesus  was  such  a  good  Israelite  in  order  that  the 
mission  of  Israel  might  be  fulfilled  and  there  be 
henceforth  neither  Jew  nor  Greek.  Accordingly 
the  whole  spirit  and  message  of  Jesus  were  univer- 
sal. **  God  sent  not  His  son  into  the  world  to  con- 
demn the  world  but  that  the  world  through  Him 
might  be  saved"  (John  3:  16,  17).  He  con- 
templated  the   conviction   of    the   world   (John 

16  :  8  ;  17:  21,  23),  and  the  preaching  of  His 
gospel  among  all  nations  (Matt.  12:14;  26:  13). 
And  even  before  His  coming  He  said  the  Father 
had  intended  the  temple  to  be  a  place  of  prayer 
for  all  nations  (Matt.  11  :  17),  while  now  all 
local  limits  were  set  aside  and  everywhere  true 
worshippers  were  invited  to  come  immediately  to 


2^2  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

the   Father   without   temple   and   without   priest 
(John  4 :  20-24). 

6.  Jesus  told  of  a  good  Father  over  all  (Matt. 
5  :  45-48),  of  a  light  in  Himself  adequate  for  all 
guidance  (John  8:  12),  of  Himself  as  the  only 
way  to  the  Father  (John  14 :  6),  and  as  the  truth 
and  the  life  (John  14:6).  In  view  of  all  this  the 
nation  in  which  He  was  could  be  the  starting 
point  only,  not  the  goal.  His  gospel  was  a  mes- 
sage for  all  men  everywhere.  His  last  commands, 
accordingly,  did  not  create  the  missionary  obli- 
gation. They  merely  expressed  it  (Matt.  28  :  19 ; 
Mark  16  :  15  ;  Acts  1:8).  If  He  had  not  ut- 
tered them  the  obligation  would  not  have  been 
diminished  in  the  slightest  degree.  But  having 
uttered  them  our  duty  has  been  made  so  clear 
that  we  can  miss  it  only  by  missing  Christ  and 
His  significance  to  our  own  hearts. 

7.  The  two  great  ideas  of  nationality  and 
universality  have  received  sharper  definition  and 
emphasis  in  our  day.  Stubbs  suggests  that  it 
was  only  upon  the  partitionment  of  Poland  that 
the  idea  of  nationality  was  forced  upon  the  world. 
In  Japan  in  our  own  day  the  question  of  the  re- 
lation of  nationality  to  humanity  and  of  Chris- 
tianity to  a  nation's  life  as  affecting  its  regard  for 
its  own  interests  and  universal  interests  has  been 
one  of  the  most  openly  discussed  problems  of 
Christianity.  Christianity,  some  Japanese  have 
held,  is  opposed  to  a  nation's  distinct  interests 


JESUS    AND   THE    NATIONS  233 

and  is  inconsistent  with  patriotism,  for  it  erects 
certain  universal  moral  standards  above  un- 
questioning devotion  to  the  state.  In  Christian 
lands  some  people  have  felt  the  same  antagonism 
and  have  boldly  declared  that  the  only  patriotic 
motto  is,  "  My  country,  right  or  wrong."  "  Our 
country!"  said  Stephen  Decatur.  "In  her  in- 
tercourse with  foreign  nations  may  she  always  be 
in  the  right;  but  our  country  right  or  wrong." 
What  is  the  true  position  here?  (i)  Right  is 
always  right  and  wrong  always  wrong.  Falsehood 
and  theft  are  as  immoral  when  a  nation  is  the  of- 
fender as  when  an  individual  lies  or  steals.  "  My 
country,  when  my  country  is  right,"  is  the  only 
Christian  principle.  To  be  sure  both  sides  may  be 
wrong  and  a  Christian  be  forced  to  choose  between 
a  less  and  a  greater  evil,  but  the  great  principle 
is  that  Christianity  demands  that  it  shall  rule  the 
intercourse  of  nations  as  well  as  of  men.  (2) 
The  best  and  truest  patriotism  is  the  product  of 
Christianity.  It  has  been  so  historically.  It 
ought  in  principle  to  be  so.  The  love  of  God  in 
Christ  is  the  fountain  head  of  reverence  for  the 
institutions  of  God  in  society  and  of  these  the  state 
is  one.  There  are  but  two  others,  the  Church 
and  the  family,  to  be  named  with  it.  He  will 
best  serve  and  most  eagerly  die  for  his  country 
who  best  serves  and  most  truly  lives  for  Jesus 
Christ. 


LI 

JESUS   AND    MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   IDEALS 

I.  Jesus  ever  held  perfection  in  view  as  the 
right  end  of  life  and  of  society.  ''  Be  ye  perfect, 
as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect ' '  (Matt.  5  :  48) 
is  the  saying  that  embodies  His  ideal.  The  true 
end  of  discipleship  is  that  the  disciple  be  '^per- 
fected as  his  Master"  (Luke  6:  40),  and  the 
Master's  desire  for  His  disciples  is  that  they 
<'may  be  perfected  into  one"  (John  17:  23) 
This  is  the  New  Testament  standard  throughout 
completeness,  full  attainment  of  the  best  (2  Cor. 
7:1;  James  2:  22;  i  John  4:  17,  18;  Heb 
2  :  10  ;  5  :  9)  ;  thorough  adjustment  and  adapta 
tion  (2  Cor.  13:  11;  Heb.  13:  21;  i  Peter 
5  :  10).  And  this  ideal  of  perfection  Jesus  held 
not  for  His  disciples  only,  but  as  the  standard  of 
all  life  and  creation.  He  knew  that  unseen 
kingdom  in  which  all  things  fulfill  the  law  and  end 
of  their  being  and  where  there  is  perfect  harmony 
and  obedience,  and  He  longed  to  see  this  un- 
seen kingdom  reahzed  in  the  world.  "  (i)  We 
know,"  says  Professor  Bosworth  in  Studies  in  the 
Teaching  of  Jesus  and  His  Apostles,  *'that  the 
earth  is  the  scene  of  the  growing  kingdom  (Matt. 
234 


JESUS  AND  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  IDEALS     235 

13 :  38),  but  the  teaching  of  Jesus  regardmg  the 
place  where  the  kingdom  is  to  find  its  ultimate, 
glorious  manifestation  is  not  distinct.  (2)  Ex- 
amine each  of  the  following  references  to  the 
coming  of  Jesus  in  the  glory  of  His  kingdom. 
See  where  it  is  that  He  appears,  and  note  whether 
there  is  any  indication  as  to  where  the  king- 
dom will  find  place:  Luke  17:  20-37;  18:  8; 
21;  25-28;  Matt.  24:  36-42.  Consider  the 
bearing  of  Matt.  6 :  10.  (3)  Some  of  the  ref- 
erences cited  above  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
earth  is  to  be  the  scene  of  the  perfected  kingdom. 
In  John  14:2a  statement  is  found  which  seems 
to  indicate  some  locality  other  than  the  earth. 
See  also  John  17:  24.  (4)  The  teaching  of  Jesus 
as  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  which  is  all  we  have 
to  consider  here  is,  then,  not  explicit  upon  this 
point.  Possibly  taken  as  a  whole  it  affords 
ground  for  saying  that  this  earth  is  to  be  a  part 
of  the  place  where  the  perfected  kingdom  is  to  ex- 
ist, but  not  the  whole  of  it.  Anticipate  for  a  mo- 
ment the  apostohc  view,  found  in  Rev.  21 :  1-4  ; 
Rom.  8  :  19-23,  that  a  transformed  earth  will  be 
the  scene  of  the  kingdom." 

2.  The  emphasis  both  of  Jesus  and  the  New 
Testament  writers  is  not  upon  the  place  of  the 
kingdom  but  upon  its  character.  The  kingdom 
was  in  the  midst  of  men  when  Jesus  was  with 
them  and  within  every  man  who  had  the  spirit 
of  a  child  (Matt.  4:   17;   18:  1-3;  Mark  10: 


236  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

14,  15;  12:  34;  Luke  10:  9,  11;  17  :  21).  It 
was  not  the  kingdom  as  a  locality,  but  the  king- 
dom as  a  righteousness  that  men  were  to  seek 
(Matt.  6  :  ^;^),  and  Paul  indeed  explicitly  denies 
its  material  character.  ''The  kingdom  is  not 
meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost "  (Rom.  14:  17). 

3.  Jesus'  ideal  of  perfection  for  man  and 
society  prevents  all  conceit  or  lethargy  of  self- 
satisfaction.  No  man  may  say,  ''  I  have  at- 
tained." Jesus'  command  is  not  a  promise  of 
easy  attainment.  It  is  a  summons  to  an  end- 
less quest.  "  I  count  not  myself  to  have  ap- 
prehended," says  Paul.  ''I  have  not  attained, 
nor  am  I  already  perfected.  I  follow  after" 
(Phil.  3  :  12,  13).  Yet  he  too  enjoins  upon  his 
people,  ''  Be  perfect"  (2  Cor.  13  :  11).  But  "  the 
perfect"  are  not  men,  as  Dr.  Bruce  says,  ''with 
a  conceit  of  perfection,  but  aspirants — men  who 
seek  to  attain."  And,  likewise  in  society,  we 
dare  never  say  that  we  have  reached  the  goal. 
We  struggle  towards  justice  and  brotherhood. 

4.  Brotherhood  is  a  modern  word  which  men 
exalt  as  though  it  supplied  what  Christianity  has 
failed  to  furnish.  But  if  Christianity  has  failed 
to  furnish  it,  it  has  been  the  fault  not  of  the 
gospel  but  of  the  Church.  Indeed  the  word 
itself  is  as  old  as  the  gospel.  "  Love  the  brother- 
hood "  is  one  of  the  apostolic  injunctions  (i  Peter 
2:  17;   3:8;    i:  22).     Indeed  the  most  com- 


JESUS  AND  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  IDEALS     237 

mon  term  of  address  and  description  among  the 
early  Christians  was  '*  brothers."  There  are  only- 
two  New  Testament  books  where  it  does  not 
occur,  while  in  most  of  them  it  recurs  again  and 
again.  Examine  the  Epistle  of  James,  as  an  ex- 
ample (James  i  :  2,  9,  16,  19;  2  :  i,  5,  14,  15  ; 
3:  I,  10,  12;  4:  11;  5  :  7,  9,  10,  12,  19).  And 
consider  the  solemn  and  uplifting  declaration  of 
John,  who  finds  the  evidence  of  life  in  love  of 
one's  brothers,  who  exalts  the  duty  of  laying 
down  life  for  them,  who  calls  hate  of  brothers 
simple  murder  and  pronounces  any  want  of  love 
for  one's  brothers  absolute  proof  of  the  falsehood 
of  one's  claims  to  love  God  (i  John  3  :  14,  15,  16 ; 
4:  20,  21).  All  that  is  now  said  about  brother- 
hood as  a  social  ideal  is  feeble  in  comparison  with 
what  Jesus  and  His  disciples  taught  (John 
13-  34>  35^  15  •  ^3)'  "When  all  is  said  and 
done,"  said  President  Roosevelt  in  his  first  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  'Uhe  rule  of  brotherhood  re- 
mains as  the  indispensable  prerequisite  to  success 
in  the  kind  of  national  life  for  which  we  strive. 
Each  man  must  work  for  himself,  and  unless  he 
so  works,  no  outside  help  can  avail  him;  but 
each  man  must  remember  also  that  he  is  his 
brother's  keeper,  and  while  no  man  who  refuses 
to  walk  can  be  carried  with  advantage  to  himself 
or  any  one  else,  yet  that  each  at  times  stumbles 
or  halts,  that  each  at  tinies  needs  to  have  the 
helping  hand  outstretched  to  him."    This  is  high 


238  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

doctrine  in  modern  economics  and  civics,  but  it 
was  commonplace  in  the  society  which  Jesus 
founded. 

5.  Jesus'  ideals  involve  a  just  and  pure  and 
peaceable  society.  When  they  prevail  there  will 
be  no  oppression,  no  vice,  no  war.  All  these  are 
terrible  things  and  they  will  not  exist  in  the  king- 
dom. There  will  be  no  *< excise  question"  then 
dividing  good  men,  some  in  favor  and  others  in 
hostility  to  the  damnable  evil  of  the  saloon.  All 
unclean  personal  habits  will  be  banished  also  from 
the  lives  of  men  who  seek  to  be  perfect  as  their 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 

6.  It  will  be  well  to  point  out  again,  however, 
that  Jesus  was  not  a  political  or  social  reformer. 
He  ^Maid  down,"  as  Harnack  says,  *'no  social 
program  for  the  suppression  of  poverty  and  dis- 
tress, if  by  program  we  mean  a  set  of  definitely 
prescribed  regulations.  With  economical  condi- 
tions and  contemporary  circumstances  He  did 
not  interfere.  Had  He  become  entangled  in 
them;  had  He  given  laws  which  were  ever  so 
salutary  for  Palestine,  what  would  have  been 
gained  by  it  ?  They  would  have  served  the  needs 
of  a  day  and  to-morrow  would  have  been  anti- 
quated :  to  the  gospel  they  would  have  been  a 
burden  and  a  source  of  confusion.  We  must  be 
careful  not  to  exceed  the  limits  set  to  such  in- 
junctions as  '  give  to  him  that  asketh  thee  '  and 
others  of  a  similar  kind.     They  must  be  under- 


JESUS  AND  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  IDEALS     239 

Stood  in  connection  with  the  time  and  the  situa- 
tion. They  refer  to  the  immediate  wants  of  the 
apphcant,  which  were  satisfied  with  a  piece  of 
bread,  a  drink  of  water,  an  article  of  clothing  to 
cover  his  nakedness.  We  must  remember  that  in 
the  gospel  we  are  in  the  East  and  in  circumstances 
which  from  an  economical  point  of  view  are  some- 
what undeveloped .  Jesus  was  no  social  reformer. '  * 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  not  a  body  of  laws 
or  prescriptive  requirements.  It  was  an  illumina- 
tion, a  divine  forth-setting  of  ultimate  principles, 
stated  extremely  so  as  to  cut  off  the  possibility  of 
evasion  and  dishonest  compromise,  but  intended 
not  as  a  code  but  as  a  spiritual  call. 

7.  But  though  Jesus  Himself  spoke  not  for 
one  time  only  but  for  all  time  and  dealt  thus  with 
great  principles  rather  than  with  limited  legisla- 
tion He  meant  His  principles  to  be  embodied 
practically  in  the  ideas  and  requirements  of  each 
age :  He  does  speak  to  the  weary  heart  of  the 
calm  of  Paradise,  but  His  message  is  also  for 
the  world  of  present  care  and  present  duty.  The 
Church  has  both  words  to  deliver.  As  Dr.  John 
Watson  says : 

"  Two  absolutely  differently  sermons,  with  not 
one  point  of  contact  save  Christ,  could  be 
preached  to-day  by  an  individualist  of  the  old 
school  and  a  solidarist  of  the  new,  from  the  text, 
*  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy 
l^den.'     One  would  treat  of  a  person's  wearv 


240  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

conscience,  the  other  of  the  multitude's  weary 
life.  The  criticism  on  the  former  would  be,  *  Is 
he  living  in  the  present  world  ?  '  on  the  latter, 
'Does  he  believe  that  there  is  a  world  to 
come  ? '  .  .  . 

**  It  is  right  to  say  that  the  Church  must  labor  to 
bring  heaven  here,  but  this  heaven  is  long  of 
coming,  and  meanwhile  the  Church  must  comfort 
the  oppressed,  the  suffering,  the  beaten  in  this 
present  battle,  with  the  vision  of  the  City  of  Rest, 
where  is  no  more  pain,  neither  crying,  for  the 
former  things  have  passed  away.  A  policy  of 
sanitation  is  excellent,  but  it  cannot  replace  the 
way  of  Salvation. 

"  Christ's  minister  must,  at  the  same  time,  re- 
member that  he  is  the  representative  of  the  Car- 
penter of  Nazareth,  who  had  a  very  tender  com- 
passion for  the  proletariat,  and  by  this  spirit  has 
led  them  all  those  years  through  the  wilderness  to 
the  borders  of  the  Promised  Land,  and  that  he 
is  the  legitimate  successor  of  these  Hebrew 
prophets,  who  were  the  champions  of  the  poor 
and  the  uncompromising  enemies  of  tyrannical 
wealth.  It  is  not  for  him  to  stir  up  strife  between 
classes,  but  to  make  peace,  yet  if  in  any  critical 
conflict  between  the  poor  and  the  rich  the  min- 
ister of  Jesus  sides  with  the  strongest,  then  hath 
he  broken  his  commission,  and  forsaken  his  Mas- 
ter. If  the  Church  of  the  Nazarene  lift  not  up 
l^er  voice  on  behalf  of  those  who  *  labor  and  are 


JESUS  AND  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  IDEALS      24 1 

heavy  laden,*  and  is  not  a  refuge  for  the  poor  and 
friendless,  what  good  is  she  on  the  face  of  the 
earth?" 

Christ's  ideal  is  the  kingdom  of  God  and  that 
kingdom  is  peace  and  joy  for  the  individual  heart, 
but  it  is  also  righteousness  among  men,  and  over 
all  the  earth. 


m 

JESUS   AND   MORAL    SANCTIONS 

"A  SANCTION,"  says  Bentham,  "is  a  source  of 
obligatory  powers  or  motives  :  that  is,  of  pains 
and  pleasures  ;  which  according  as  they  are  con- 
nected with  such  or  such  modes  of  conduct, 
operate,  and  indeed  are  the  only  things  that  can 
operate,  as  motives."  In  other  words,  roughly 
speaking,  sanctions  are  the  motives  of  moral  ac- 
tions. What  sanctions  did  Jesus  recognize  and 
assume  ? 

I.  The  great  motive  to  which  Jesus  appealed 
among  His  disciples  was  love.  He  established  a 
new  law  of  love  among  them,  "such,"  as  Wendt 
says,  "  as  had  yet  no  sure  basis  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment knowledge  of  God  and  as  had  not  yet  been 
recognized  as  belonging  unconditionally  to  the 
righteousness  commanded  by  God."  "By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples  if  ye 
have  love  one  to  another  "  (John  13  :  35).  And 
He  saw  in  love  the  supreme  motive  and  source  of 
obedience.  "  If  a  man  love  Me  he  will'  keep  My 
word.  .  .  .  He  that  loveth  Me  not  keepeth  not 
My  word  "  (John  14  :  23,  24).  "  If  ye  love  Me, 
ye  will  keep  My  commandments  "  (John  14:  15). 
242 


JESUS    AND    MORAL   SANCTIONS  243 

It  was  the  existence  of  love  in  Peter's  heart  which 
Jesus  challenged  when  He  put  him  to  his  three- 
fold test  and  tied  the  threefold  assertion  of  love 
on  Peter's  part  to  the  duty  of  service  (John  20 : 
15-17).  Love  is  the  supreme  Christian  motive. 
We  will  serve  God  because  we  love  Him  and  also 
because  He  loves  us  and  we  are  won  to  love  by 
His  love  (i  John  4:  19).  And  generally,  not 
among  Christians  only,  love  is  the  most  potent 
sanction  of  life  (Matt.  5:  43,  44;  19:  19;  22: 
37»  39)-  ^^  will  do  good  if  our  hearts  are 
hearts  of  love,  and  that  is  practically  the  only 
real  guarantee  of  good.  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
all  right  law  (Rom.  13:8,  10). 

2.  But  is  there  anyplace  for  fear?  "I  will 
warn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear,"  said  Jesus. 
"Fear  Him,  which  after  He  hath  killed  hath 
power  to  cast  into  hell  "  (Luke  12  :  5).  This  is 
Jesus'  only  direct  mention  of  fear  as  a  motive. 
To  whom  does  He  refer?  <' Surely  he  who 
tempts  to  unfaithfulness, — the  god  of  this  world," 
says  Bruce.  On  the  other  hand  the  older  com- 
mentators hold  that  it  is  God.  Elsewhere,  how- 
ever, Jesus  surely  appeals  to  the  certainty  of 
future  judgment  as  a  warning  (Luke  12:  8,  9). 
"Whosoever  shall  confess  Me  before  men,  him 
shall  the  Son  of  man  also  confess  before  the 
angels  of  God,  but  he  that  denieth  Me  before 
men  shall  be  denied  before  the  angels  of  God  " 
(cf.  Luke  12:46-48,  58,  59;   13:24-30;   14: 


244  'THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

34,  35;  Mark  16:  15,  16).  Is  all  this  wrong? 
Ought  the  thought  of  future  punishment  and  the 
fear  of  it  to  have  no  place  in  our  minds  ?  This 
was  Huxley's  view:  ''The  ledger  of  the  Al- 
mighty is  strictly  kept,  and  every  one  of  us  has 
the  balance  of  his  operations  paid  over  to  him  at 
the  end  of  every  minute  of  his  existence.  .  .  . 
The  absolute  justice  of  the  system  of  things  is  as 
clear  to  me  as  any  scientific  fact.  The  gravita- 
tion of  sin  to  sorrow  is  as  certain  as  that  of  the 
earth  to  the  sun,  and  more  so — for  experimental 
proof  of  the  fact  is  within  reach  of  us  all — nay  is 
before  us  all  in  our  own  lives,  if  we  had  but  the 
eyes  to  see  it. 

"  Not  only  then  do  I  disbelieve  in  the  need  for 
compensation,  but  I  believe  that  the  seeking  for 
rewards  and  punishments  out  of  this  life  leads 
men  to  a  ruinous  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  their 
inevitable  rewards  and  punishments  are  here. 

"If  the  expectation  of  hell  hereafter  can  keep 
me  from  evil  doing,  surely  a  fortiori  the  certainty 
of  hell  now  will  do  so?  If  a  man  could  be 
firmly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  stealing 
damaged  him  as  much  as  swallowing  arsenic 
would  do  (and  it  does),  would  not  the  dissuasive 
force  of  that  belief  be  greater  than  that  of  any 
beased  on  mere  future  expectations  ?  .  .  . 

"  Kicked  into  the  world  a  boy  without  guide 
or  training,  or  with  worse  than  none,  I  confess  to 
my  shame  that  few  men  have  drunk  deeper  of  all 


JESUS    AND    MORAL    SANCTIONS  245 

kinds  of  sin  than  I.  Happily,  my  course  was 
arrested  in  time — before  I  had  earned  absolute 
destruction — and  for  long  years  I  have  been 
slowly  and  painfully  climbing,  with  many  a  fall, 
towards  better  things.  And  when  I  look  back, 
what  do  I  find  to  have  been  the  agents  of  my  re- 
demption ?  The  hope  of  immortality  or  of  future 
reward  ?  I  can  honestly  say  that  for  these  four- 
teen years  such  a  consideration  has  not  entered 
my  head." 

The  motive  of  fear  plays  no  such  part  with  us  as 
it  did  with  our  fathers.  But  it  has  its  place,  even 
though  a  small  one.  As  to  allowing  it  in  this 
present  life  but  disallowing  it  as  to  the  future,  it 
can  only  be  said  that  such  a  distinction  is  utterly 
unreasonable.  If  it  is  right  for  a  man  to  remem- 
ber that  to-day's  sin  will  bring  its  penalty  to- 
morrow, it  is  right  for  him  to  remember  that  the 
same  principle  reaches  on  into  the  future  life.  Of 
course  there  is  such  a  thing  as  craven  and  con- 
temptible fear.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  few  people 
will  shun  sin  for  fear  of  future  punishment  who 
do  not  also  shun  it  on  other  and  stronger  grounds. 
But  all  men  have  both  a  right  and  a  duty  to  con- 
sider the  consequences  of  sin  and  of  righteous- 
ness. 

3.  The  great  motive  is  found  in  the  moral 
nobility  of  doing  right  for  its  own  sake.  Jesus  de- 
clared that  He  did  what  He  saw  the  Father  doing 
and  spoke  of  what  He  heard  in  His  Father  (John 


246  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

5:  19;  8:  28,  38).  He  did  right  not  through 
an  acquired  affection  or  through  fear  of  conse- 
quence, but  because  of  a  complete  moral  unity 
with  God.  Right  was  His  nature  and  His  will 
expressed  itself  in  perfect  obedience  (John 
8  :  28,  29).  He  did  not  even  weigh  the  relative 
claims  of  good  and  evil,  and  choose  then  to  do 
right  because  it  was  right.  That  is  high  ground 
but  it  is  higher  to  be  above  the  possibility  of  such 
discussion  and  to  do  right  as  the  inevitable  and 
instinctive  law. 

4.  But  there  is  nothing  that  is  not  admirable 
in  the  attitude  of  one  who  must  seek  to  discover 
duty,  who  does  not  see  with  great  instinctive 
vision,  but  must  ponder  and  decide  after  exami- 
nation. Jesus  believed  in  duty.  When  men  did 
not  see.  He  bade  them  go  on  in  the  way  of  duty 
and  vision  would  come  (John  7:  17).  If  love 
would  lead  to  the  keeping  of  His  commands, 
keeping  His  commands  was  itself  the  best  evi- 
dence of  love  (John  14:  15;  15:  14).  Duty- 
doing  is  a  great  first  principle.  It  is  the  **  way 
for  dissolving  any  and  all  doubts"  and  it  is  a 
fountain  of  the  holiest  sanction  of  right. 

5.  Jesus  believed  in  authority  too.  Our  day 
has  reacted  from  the  excessive  dogmatism  of  an 
earlier  day  but  men  in  our  day  cannot  escape  from 
the  clutch  of  authority.  Admiration,  imitation, 
sympathy  are  good,  but  they  are  not  enough. 
Jesus  Himself  spoke  and  wrought  with  authority 


JESUS    AND    MORAL    SANCTIONS  247 

(Matt.  7:  29;  21:  23,  24,  27;  Mark  i:  27; 
John  5  :  27).  There  is  authority  in  the  truth  and 
there  is  authority  in  the  living  Truth.  We  take 
most  of  our  knowledge  upon  trust,  upon  confi- 
dence in  human  authority.  We  cannot  draw  a 
rational  line  anywhere  in  our  knowledge  and  de- 
cline to  recognize  authority  upon  one  side  and 
especially  in  our  relations  to  God  in  Christ  while 
we  allow  it  upon  the  other.  ''Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  is  a  phrase  as  worthy  and  rich  as  when  it 
fell,  from  the  life  of  prophets  who  spoke  in  times 
long  gone  by,  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

6.  Faith  provides  the  believing  heart  with 
sanctions  of  its  own.  Only,  alas,  all  have  not  be- 
lieving hearts.     Have  we  ? 


"  Upon  the  white  sea  sand 

There  sat  a  pilgrim  band 
Telling  the  losses  that  their  lives  had  known. 

While  evening  waned  away 

From  breezy  cliff  and  bay, 
And  the  strong  tides  went  out  with  weary  moan. 

There  were  some  who  mourned  their  youth 

With  a  most  tender  ruth, 
For  the  brave  hopes  and  memories  ever  green ; 

And  one  upon  the  West 

Turned  an  eye  that  would  not  rest 
For  the  fair  hills  whereon  its  joys  had  been. 

Some  talked  of  vanished  gold, 

Some  of  proud  honors  told. 


248  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JESUS 

Some  spoke  of  friends  who  were  their  friends  no 
more. 

And  one  of  a  green  grave 

Far  away  beyond  the  wave. 
While  he  sits  here  so  lonely  on  the  shore. 

But  when  their  tales  were  done, 

There  spoke  among  them  one, 
A  stranger,  seeming  from  all  sorrow  free : 

*  Sad  losses  ye  have  met, 
But  mine  are  sadder  yet, 

For  the  believing  heart  has  gone  from  me.' 

*  Then  alas ! '  those  pilgrims  said, 

*  For  the  living  and  the  dead, 

For  life's  deep  shadows  and  the  heavy  cross, 
For  the  wrecks  of  land  and  sea  ; 
But,  however  it  came  to  thee. 

Thine,  brother,  is  life's  last  and  sorest  loss, 

For  the  believing  heart  has  gone  from  thee — 
Ah !  the  believing  heart  has  gone  from  thee.'  '* 


Lin 

JESUS   AND   THE   GOSPEL 

I.  What  is  the  gospel  ?  Some  reply,  the  human 
character  of  Jesus.  He  showed  the  kind  of  life 
that  a  man  can  live.  So  that  henceforth  all  men 
might  be  able  to  meet  defeat  and  discouragement 
with  the  confident  word,  "Well,  I  have  fallen, 
but  it  is  not  necessary  for  men  to  fall.  Jesus 
proved  that.  I  shall  try  again."  The  acceptance 
of  the  gospel  in  this  view,  is  simply  the  admira- 
tion and  imitation  of  Jesus.  There  are  only  two 
difficulties  in  this  view  of  the  gospel.  One  is 
that  it  is  not  true.  The  other  is  that  it  is  not 
practicable.  Jesus  did  reveal  the  ideal  life.  He 
was  the  Son  of  Man,  unveiling  an  illustration 
of  what  God  would  have  each  man  be,  but  no  man 
can  lift  himself  into  this  redeemed  character. 
The  gospel  is  not  the  character  of  a  dead  man, 
loved  and  imitated  by  men  of  subsequent  cen- 
turies. It  is  the  power  of  the  living  Christ  at 
work  in  human  life  reproducing  itself.  We  assent 
to  His  working  the  transformation,  but  it  is  He 
who  redeems  and  saves.  "  What  we  want,"  says 
Horace  Bushnell,  "  is  not  to  go  hunting  our  poor 
nature  through,  that  we  may  find  what  is  slumber- 
249 


250  THE    PRINCIPLES   OF   JESUS 

ing  in  us,  waiting  to  be  somehow  waked.  But 
the  grand  first  thing,  or  chief  concern  for  us  is  to 
be  simply  Christed  all  through,  filled  in  every 
faculty  and  member  with  the  C bristly  manifesta- 
tion, in  that  manner  to  be  so  interwoven  with 
Him  as  to  cross  fibre  and  to  feel  throughout  the 
quickening  contact  of  His  personality ;  and  then 
everything  in  us,  no  matter  what,  will  be  made 
the  most  of,  because  the  corresponding  Christly 
talent  will  be  playing  divinely  upon  it,  and  charg- 
ing it  with  power  from  Himself"  (John  $:  $; 
5  :  21  ;  6:  51 ;  Matt.  11  :  28;  28  :  20).  It  may 
be  said  that  there  is  very  little  of  this  idea  in  the 
Synoptic  Gospels,  that  there  Jesus  talks  only  of  the 
moral  standards  in  which  He  believed  and  simply 
asked  men  to  follow  Him  as  any  teacher  was  fol- 
lowed by  his  disciples.  But  Jesus  says  little  in 
the  Synoptic  Gospels  about  His  own  character 
and  the  idea  of  the  gospel  presented  there  is  not 
that  of  a  personal  imitation. 

2.  Exactly  so,  some  reply.  Jesus'  idea  of  the 
gospel  was  not  personal  at  all.  It  consisted  of 
those  doctrines  of  God  as  Father  and  men  as  sons 
of  God  and  brothers  one  of  another  which  con- 
stituted His  discourses.  His  gospel  in  other 
words  was  not  His  work  or  His  character  but  His 
message.  The  gospel  and  Jesus  can  be  readily 
and  entirely  separated  from  each  other.  "The- 
individual  is  called  upon,"  as  Harnack  says,  "to 
listen   to   the   glad   message   of  mercy  and   the 


JESUS    AND    THE    GOSPEL  25 1 

Fatherhood  of  God,  and  to  make  up  his  mind 
whether  he  will  be  on  God's  side  and  the  Eter- 
nal's or  on  the  side  of  the  world  and  of  time. 
The  gospely  as  Jesus  proclaimed  itj  has  to  do  with 
the  Father  only  a?id  not  with  the  Son.  This  is 
no  paradox,  nor  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  *  ration- 
alism,' but  the  simple  expression  of  the  fact  as 
the  evangelists  give  it.  .  .  .  The  Christian  re- 
ligion is  something  simple  and  sublime ;  it  means 
one  thing  and  one  thing  only :  eternal  life  in  the 
midst  of  time,  by  the  strength  and  under  the  eyes 
of  God."  In  this  view  there  was  no  Christolog- 
ical  element  in  the  gospel.  It  was  simply  a  vig- 
orous theism  which  conceived  God  in  terms  of 
dear  and  kindly  Fatherhood.  Of  course  this 
view  of  the  nature  of  the  gospel  eliminates  the 
Gospel  of  John  as  unreliable.  That  Gospel  gives 
to  the  gospel  an  overwhelming  Christological 
character.  It  begins  with  such  an  assertion. 
"The  Word  was  God  "  (John  i  :  i).  It  knows 
no  other  sort  of  gospel.  Jesus  Himself  is  the 
gospel  (John  3:  16-18,  36;  4:  25,  26]  5: 
18-47;  6:33-65;  7:37;  8:  19-36,  58;  9: 
35-37;  10:  7-18,24-38;  11:  25-27;  12:32-36; 
14:  15;  16:  17).  The  fourth  Gospel  is  only  the 
constant  and  emphatic  declaration  of  the  Chris- 
tology  of  the  gospel.  "  He  that  receiveth  Me, 
receiveth  Him  that  sent  me."  "  No  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father  but  by  Me."  ''He  that  hath 
seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father."     **I  and  the 


252  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

Father  are  one."  ''I  am  the  bread  of  life." 
"  God  sent  the  Son  that  the  world  should  be 
saved  through  Him."  These  are  characteristic 
statements  from  the  fourth  Gospel.  No  one  can 
hold  to  its  reliability  and  not  believe  that  Christ 
is  the  gospel. 

3.  But  the  Synoptic  Gospels  also  present  the 
gospel  to  us  as  Christological.  There  as  truly 
though  not  as  fully  as  in  John  the  gospel  stands 
in  Jesus,  His  person  and  His  work,  as  truly  as 
His  message.  ''  I  came  to  fulfill  "  (Matt.  5  :  17). 
"Many  will  say  to  Me  in  that  day  Lord,  Lord, 
and  then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew 
you,  depart  from  Me"  (Matt.  7:  23).  ''Jesus 
said  unto  them.  But  who  say  ye  that  I  am  ?  And 
Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  Jesus 
answered  and  said  unto  him.  Blessed  art  thou 
Simon  Bar- Jonah :  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  My  Father  which  is  in 
heaven"  (Matt  16:  16,  17).  ''Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  My  name  there  am 
I  in  the  midst  of  them"  (Matt.  18:  20).  Ob- 
serve the  constant  note  of  authority  (Matt.  10  :  23, 
32,  34;  11:  19,  25,  28-30;  12:  6-8;  18:  10; 
19 :  23,  24).  Study  the  assumption  of  power 
and  dominion  in  the  miracles  (Matt.  8 :  7 ;  9 : 
22,  28  ;  12  :  13  ;  15  :  28).  And  these  words  from 
Matthew  are  of  exactly  the  same  temper  as  the 
Christological  declarations  in  John  :     "  All  things 


JESUS    AND    THE    GOSPEL  253 

have  been  delivered  unto  Me  of  My  Father,  and 
no  one  knoweth  the  Son  save  the  Father ;  neither 
doth  any  know  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he 
to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him" 
(Matt.  II  :  27). 

4.  Indeed  so  interknit  are  Jesus  and  His  gos- 
pel that  even  Harnack  does  not  consistently  try 
to  keep  them  separated.  ''No  one  had  ever  yet 
known  the  Father  in  the  way  in  which  Jesus 
knew  Him,  and  to  this  knowledge  of  Him  He 
draws  other  men's  attention,  and  thereby  does 
*  the  many '  an  incomparable  service.  He  leads 
them  to  God,  not  only  by  what  He  says,  still 
more  by  what  He  is  and  does,  and  ultimately  by 
what  He  suffers."  And  again,  Jesus  ''knows 
Himself  to  be  the  Son  called  and  instituted  of 
God,  and  hence  He  can  say :  My  God  and  My 
Father,  and  into  this  invocation  He  puts  some- 
thing which  belongs  to  no  one  but  Himself.  .  .  . 
Jesus  who  preached  humility  and  knowledge  of 
self,  nevertheless  named  Himself  and  Himself 
alone  as  the  Son  of  God.'* 

5.  The  supreme  and  essential  fact  about  the 
gospel  is  its  relation  to  Christ.  All  other  relig- 
ions are  separable  from  their  founders.  They  are 
book  religions,  or  method  religions  or  social  re- 
ligions, but  Christianity  is  a  personal  religion.  To 
remove  its  Christological  element  is  radically  to 
alter  its  character,  to  destroy  the  class  in  which  it 
stands  by  itself,  and  to  reduce  it  in  kind  to  the 


254  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

level  of  the  other  religions.  It  is  also  to  rob  it  of 
its  power.  Its  power  consists  in  the  eternal  and 
divine  personality  who  lives  in  it  and  in  all  who 
enter  it  by  faith  in  Him.  Its  force  lay  in  this 
that  "  it  had  a  founder  who  Himself  was  what  He 
taught  "  and  its  force  to-day  lies  in  this  that  He 
still  is  what  He  taught.  And  what  He  taught  and 
teaches  is  not  a  doctrine  only,  but  Himself,  the 
life.  Whoever  obliterates  the  Christological  ele- 
ment in  the  gospel  simply  prepares  the  way  for 
pantheism,  for  the  human  heart  needs  the  personal 
experience  of  God  and  if  it  is  denied  the  joy  of 
merging  itself  in  God  in  Christ  and  still  preserv- 
ing personality,  it  will  still  seek  the  sense  of  a 
divine  unity  and  will  secure  it  at  the  expense  of 
personality  and  responsibility,  safeguarded  to  us 
by  the  historic  doctrine  of  the  Christian  faith. 


LIV 

JESUS   AND   THE   SUPERNATURAL 

I.  What  do  we  mean  by  natural  and  super- 
natural? "Nature,"  says  Bushnell  in  Nature 
and  the  Supernatural^  "is  that  world  of  sub- 
stance, whose  laws  are  laws  of  cause  and  effect, 
and  whose  events  transpire,  in  orderly  succession, 
under  those  laws ;  the  supernatural  is  that  range 
of  substance,  if  any  such  there  be,  that  acts  upon 
the  chain  of  cause  and  effect  in  nature  from  with- 
out the  chain,  producing,  thus,  results  that  by 
mere  nature,  could  not  come  to  pass.  It  is  not 
said,  be  it  observed,  as  is  sometimes  done,  that 
the  supernatural  implies  a  suspension  of  the  laws 
of  nature,  a  causing  them,  for  the  time,  not  to 
be — that,  perhaps,  is  never  done — it  is  only  said 
that  we,  as  powers,  not  in  the  line  of  cause  and 
effect,  can  set  the  causes  in  nature  at  work,  in 
new  combinations  otherwise  never  occurring,  and 
produce,  by  our  action  upon  nature,  results  which 
she,  as  nature,  could  never  produce  by  her  own 
internal  acting."  It  will  be  seen  that  Bushnell 
contends  that  we  ourselves  are  supernatural. 
'*The  moment  we  begin  to  conceive  ourselves 
rightly,  we  become  ourselves  supernatural.  .  .  . 
255 


256       -  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

In  ourselves  we  discover  a  tier  of  existences  that 
are  above  nature,  and  in  all  their  most  ordinary- 
actions,  are  doing  their  will  upon  it.  The  very 
idea  of  our  personality  is  that  of  a  being  not 
under  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  a  being  super- 
natural." Most  of  our  thought  embraces  man  in 
the  realm  of  the  natural  but  it  is  not  so,  and  a 
comprehension  of  the  significance  of  human  per- 
sonality relieves  the  real  difficulties  which  are 
felt  regarding  the  supernatural.  From  Bushnell's 
point  of  view,  of  course  Jesus  was  supernatural, 
but  from  the  common  point  of  view  also  He 
must  be  recognized  as  in  a  class  above  nature  and 
man  (John  5  :  26;  8  :  42). 

2.  Jesus  did  the  supernatural.  He  worked 
miracles.  That  is  the  plain  teaching  of  all  the 
Gospels.  We  may  set  the  miracles  of  the  Gospels 
in  their  proper  place  and  hold  with  Harnack  that 
**it  is  not  miracles  that  matter;  the  question  on 
which  everything  turns  is  whether  we  are  hope- 
lessly yoked  to  an  inexorable  necessity,  or 
whether  God  exists  who  rules  and  governs,  and 
whose  power  to  compel  nature  we  can  move  by 
prayer  and  make  a  part  of  our  experience."  Or 
we  can  pare  down  the  authority  of  the  gospel 
stories  and  minimize  the  miraculous  element  in 
the  life  of  Jesus,  but  even  still  the  supernatural 
remains  and  cannot  be  excluded  without  doing 
violence  to  the  history  and  the  person.  The 
resurrection  is  the  only  miracle  that  needs  to  be 


JESUS    AND    THE    SUPERNATURAL  257 

validated.  If  that  is  established  the  principle  of 
the  others  is  established  also.  And  why  is  that 
miracle  difficult  of  belief?  "There  are  three 
miracles  in  the  development  of  nature,"  says 
Godet.  ''I.  The  appearance  of  matter.  2.  The 
appearance  of  life  in  matter.  3.  The  appearance 
of  the  conscious  and  free  will  in  the  domain  of 
life.  There  are  three  decisive  miracles  in  the 
history  of  our  Lord.  i.  His  coming  in  the  flesh 
or  His  entrance  into  material  existence.  2.  The 
realization  of  life,  of  holy  communion  with  God 
in  this  corporeal  existence.  3.  The  elevation  of 
this  life  to  the  liberty  of  the  divine  life  by  the 
resurrection  and  ascension.  ...  It  is  said  such 
a  fact  (as  the  resurrection)  would  overthrow  the 
laws  of  nature.  But  what  if  it  were,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  law  of  nature  when  thoroughly  under- 
stood which  required  this  fact?"  But  even  if 
natural  law  is  transcended  and  not  illustrated  in 
the  miracles  of  the  Gospels,  it  does  not  follow  that 
they  were  arbitrary  and  irruptive.  God  is  great 
enough  to  work  in  His  world  and  through  His  or- 
dinary ways  in  it  and  through  them  to  accomplish 
things  out  of  its  order  and  beyond  its  natural 
possibility.  The  miracles  which  Jesus  wrought 
He  represented  as  the  orderly  working  of  God 
revealing  Himself  after  His  nature  (John 
5:  17,  26,  36;   10:25,  32,  37)- 

3.     Jesus'    teaching    was    supernatural.     Hi?; 
words  were  not  a  man's  words.     They  were  th<f 


258  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

words  of  God  (John  12:49,  5°^  i7-8; 
14:  10;  8,..;.7).  What  He  said  was  revelation, 
the  unveiling  of  what  otherwise  we  should  not 
have  known.  It  was  not  genius,  or  Semitic  in- 
sight or  great  pedagogic  skill.  It  was  divine  in- 
sight and  unfolding.  "The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life " 
(John  6:6^').  *'I  speak  that  which  I  have  seen 
with  My  Father  "  (John  8  ;  38). 

4.  Jesus  was  supernatural.  The  Gospels  of 
Luke  and  Matthew  represent  His  birth  as  mirac- 
ulous (Luke  1:26-38;  Matt,  i:  18-25).  ^"t 
if  Jesus'  birth  had  not  been  supernatural,  it  would 
not  have  affected  necessarily  the  divinity  of  His 
life.  If  the  Son  of  God  could  have  a  human 
mother,  and  yet  be  divine.  He  could  have  been 
divine  even  if  He  had  had  a  human  father.  But 
the  Gospels  give  Him  a  miraculous  birth.  And 
so  throughout,  Jesus  reveals  Himself  as  man  and 
not  man,  and  claims  this  for  Himself  (John 
5:  17,  18,  23,  43;  6:  27,  45,  46,  57;  8:  19; 
15 :  i).  Our  own  personality  is  supernatural. 
But  Jesus'  is  above  ours.  He  and  the  Father 
are  one  in  a  way  singular  and  unique  (John 
10:  30).  But  this  also  is  not  irruptive  and  vio- 
lent. *'Even  the  coming  of  God  in  Christ," 
says  Samuel  Harris,  "is  not  contrary  to  the  fun- 
damental constitution  and  laws  of  the  universe, 
but  rather  the  consununation  of  the  continuous 
action  of  God  immanent  in  the  universe  and  ever 


JESUS    AND    THE    SUPERNATURAL         259 

coming  near  to  man  in  the  courses  of  human 
history." 

5.  Jesus  simply  assumed  the  apernatural. 
He  did  not  set  about  to  prove  it.  He  saw  God 
and  Uved  in  Him.  Take  a  concordance  and 
read  all  the  verses  in  which  Jesus  spoke  of  God 
and  observe  the  calm  and  restful  confidence,— 
never  dreaming  of  a  scepticism  which  questioned 
the  being,  the  goodness,  the  righteousness,  the 
power  of  God, — which  marked  Him, — the  realiza- 
tion of  the  living  presence  of  God  in  the  world, 
the  sense  of  man's  dependence  and  subjection, 
and  his  privilege  and  duty  of  obedience  and  son- 
ship.  He  came  to  open  this  God  to  us,  to  be  to 
us  the  way  to  God  and  to  show  our  hearts  the 
heart  of  our  Father  God.  This  is  the  need  of 
men  to-day  and  the  principle  of  Jesus  most  nec- 
essary to  be  applied  to  our  present  life. 

Consider  this  contrast. 

"  I  know  that  I  am,  in  spite  of  myself,'* 
wrote  Huxley  to  Kingsley,  "exactly  what  the 
Christian  world  calls,  and  so  far  as  I  can  see  is 
justified  in  calling,  atheist  and  infidel.  I  cannot 
see  one  shadow  or  tittle  of  evidence  that  the 
great  unknown  underlying  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe  stands  to  us  in  the  relation  of  a  father- 
loves  us  and  cares  for  us  as  Christianity  asserts." 

*'  I  have  had  some  delightful  times  and  pas- 
sages since  I  came  here,"  wrote  Bushnell  to  his 
wife,  ''such  as  I  never  had  before.     I  never  so 


260  THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    JESUS 

saw  God,  never  had  Him  come  so  broadly, 
clearly  out.  He  has  not  spoken  to  me  but  He 
has  done  what  is  more.  There  has  been  nothing 
debatable  to  speak  for,  but  an  infinite  easiness 
and  universal  presentation  to  thought  as  it  were 
by  revelation.  Nothing  ever  seemed  so  wholly 
inviting  and  so  supreme  to  the  mind.  Had  there 
been  a  strain  for  it,  then  it  could  not  be.  O  my 
God  !  what  a  fact  to  know  and  to  possess  that 
He  is  !  I  have  not  seemed  to  compare  Him  with 
anything,  and  set  Him  in  a  higher  value ;  but  He 
has  been  the  all,  and  the  altogether,  everywhere, 
lovely.  There  is  nothing  else  to  compete ;  there 
is  nothing  else  in  fact.  It  has  been  as  if  all  the 
revelations,  through  good  men,  nature,  Christ,  had 
been  now  through,  and  their  cargo  unloaded,  the 
capital  meaning  produced,  and  the  God  set 
forth  in  His  own  proper  day, — the  good,  the  true, 
the  perfect,  the  all-holy  and  benignant.  The 
question  has  not  been  whether  I  could  some- 
how get  nearer,  but  as  if  He  had  come  out 
Himself  just  near  enough  and  left  me  nothing  but 
to  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation;  no  excite- 
ment, no  stress,  but  an  amazing  beatific  tran- 
quillity. I  never  thought  I  could  possess  God  so 
completely." 

This  is  the  difference  between  the  man  of  blind 
eyes  and  the  man  of  the  vision  of  faith,  knowing 
God  in  Christ  who  revealed  the  Father.  These 
were   His  words,   ''Your   Father  knoweth  what 


JESUS    AND   THE    SUPERNATURAL         26 1 

ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask  Him"  (Matt. 
«5:  8,  32).  '<If  ye  then  being  evil  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give 
good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him  ?  "  (Matt.  7  :  11.) 
*'  The  Father  Himself  loveth  you  "  (John  16  :  27). 
**Fear  not,  little  flock,  for  it  is  your  Father's 
good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  Kingdom ' '  (Luke 
12:  32). 

The  question  is  not,  is  Bushnell's  view  pleas- 
anter  than  Huxley's;  but  which  view  is  true? 
Jesus  gives  and  is  the  answer,  and  whoever  ac- 
cepts His  principles  sees  in  the  world  with  all  its 
perplexities  yet  the  certain  evidence  of  the  Fa- 
ther's love  and  at  the  end  of  life  the  calm  and 
fellowship  of  the  Father's  house. 


QUESTIONS  FOR  THE  STUDY  O^  BIBLE 
CLASSES 

I 

JESUS  AND  THE  FATHER 

1 .  By  what  title  did  Jesus  address  God  ? 

2.  What  adjectives  did  He  use  in  connection 
with  it  ? 

3.  What  was  Jesus'  relation  to  the  Father  as 
He  described  it? 

4.  How  complete  was  His  identification  with 
the  Father? 

5.  What  were  the  principles  of  His  relationship 
to  the  Father  ? 

n 

JESUS  AND  PRAYER 

1.  What  did  Jesus  describe  as   conditions  of 
right  prayer  ? 

2.  For  what  did  Jesus  bid  us  to  pray? 

3.  What  did  He  teach  regarding  the  manner 
and  spirit  of  prayer  ? 

4.  What  promises  and  encouragements  did  He 
offer  that  prayer  would  be  heard? 

5.  Make  a  list  of  the  instances  of  prayer  in 
Jesus'  own  life. 

6.  What  was  His  habit  as  to  solitary  prayer  ? 

7.  How  constantly  did  Jesus  pray? 

8.  What    were     the    characteristics     of    His 
prayers  ? 

9.  Why  did  Jesus  pray  ? 

262 


Questions  for  BiBLfi  classes        263 
III 

JESUS  AND  THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

1.  What  was   the   ruling  principle  of  Jesus' 
Hfe? 

2.  What  did  He  teach  about  God's  will? 

3.  What  did  His  submission  to  the  will  of  God 
do  for  Jesus  ? 

4.  What  will  submission  to  the  will  of  God  do 
for  us  ? 

5.  How  may  we  find  out  the  will  of  God  ? 

IV 

JESUS  AND  HUMAN  SOCIETY 

1.  What  was   the   attitude  of  Jesus   towards 
human  society  ? 

2.  To  what  feasts  did  He  go? 

3.  In  what  parables  does  He  show  a  knowledge 
of  the  social  life  of  men  ? 

4.  What   was   His    attitude    towards    human 
opinion  of  Himself? 

5.  Did    He    ever  reprove   any  one    for  dis- 
courtesy ? 

6.  How  did  Jesus  use  social  intercourse  ? 

V 

JESUS  AND  SIN 

1.  Did  Jesus  ever  sin  ? 

2.  What   did  He  promise  in  the  way  of  for- 
giveness of  sin  ? 

3.  What  was  His  attitude  towards  sin  ? 

4.  What   did  He  call  sin,  and  what  did  He 
mean  by  this? 

5.  What  was  sin  in  Jesus'  view? 

6.  Is  sin  merely  disease  or  erroneous  opinion  ? 


264  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

VI 
JESUS  AND  STANDARDS 

1.  What  duties  did  Jesus  enjoin? 

2.  What  standards  did  Jesus  set  up? 

3.  Were  Jesus'  standards  absolute  and  immov- 
able? 

4.  What  was  His  standard  of  truth  ? 

5.  What  was  His  standard  of  unselfishness? 

6.  What  was  His  standard  of  purity  ? 

7.  What  was  His  standard  of  love? 

8.  Did   Jesus  preach  a  standard  or  was  He 
one? 

VII 

JESUS  AND  TEMPTATION 

1.  Could  Jesus  have  sinned  if  He  wanted  to? 

2.  Was  He  really  tempted  ? 

3.  How  was  He  tempted  ? 

4.  What  was  His  attitude  towards  temptation? 

5.  What  was  the  issue  of  His  temptations  ? 

6.  Who  tempts  men  ? 

7.  What  were  the  temptations  of  the  disciples? 

8.  Do  we  need  to  yield  to  temptation? 

VIII 

JESUS  AND  POLITICS 

1.  What  was  the  political  relation  of  the  Jewish 
nation  to  Rome  ? 

2.  What  was  the  political  situation  inside  the 
nation  ? 

3.  What  was  Jesus'  political  status? 

4.  Did  He  violate  any  laws  ? 

5.  Did  He  sanction  the  violation  of  law? 

6.  What  was  His  position  regarding  the  Roman 
taxes? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  265 

7.  Was  He  a  political  reformer  ? 

8.  If  not,  what  was  His  method  ? 

9.  What  are  the  political  duties  of  Christians  ? 

IX 

JESUS  AND  THE  CHURCH 

1.  What  was  Jesus'  position  ecclesiastically? 

2.  What  was  His  religious  training  ? 

3.  How  did  He  feel  towards  the  Church? 

4.  Did  He  attempt  to  remedy  its  abuses  ? 

5.  How  did  the  Church  treat  Jesus? 

6.  What  ought  to  be  our  attitude  towards  the 
Church? 


JESUS  AND  HIS  ENEMIES 

1.  Did  Jesus  have  any  enemies?    Who  were 
they? 

2.  What  was  the  cause  of  their  enmity? 

3.  Trace  the  growth  of  their  hostility  to  Jesus. 

4.  Did  Jesus  provoke  enmity  ? 

5 .  How  did  He  act  towards  His  enemies  ? 

6.  How  does  He  expect  us  to  treat  our  ene- 
mies? 

7.  Where,  after  all,  is  the  only  enemy  we  need 
to  fear  ? 

XI 

JESUS  AND  FORGIVENESS 

1.  What  was  Jesus'  teaching  about  the  duty  of 
forgiveness  ? 

2.  Is  there  to  be  any  limit? 

3.  How  did  Jesus  act  in  this  matter? 

4.  Did  Jesus  ever  seek  forgiveness  ? 

5.  What  is  the  secret  of  the  joy  of  forgiveness? 

6.  Will  Christ  never  tire  of  forgiving  ? 


266  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

XII 
JESUS  AND  ERROR 

1.  What  intellectual  error  did  Jesus  meet? 

2.  What  emotional  error  did  Jesus  meet  ? 

3.  What  error  in  men's  wills  did  Jesus  meet? 

4.  What    errors    did    He    meet    among    His 
friends  ? 

5.  What  was  His  attitude  towards  error? 

6.  What  errors  did  He  correct? 

7.  What  errors  did  He  pass  over? 

8.  Did  He  regard  error  as  of  little  consequence  ? 

9.  What  was  His  method  of  correction  ? 
10.  What  is  the  great  source  of  error  ? 

XIII 

JESUS  AND  UNBELIEF 

1.  What  was  ''belief"  in  Jesus'  view? 

2.  Did  He  regard  unbelief  as  an  unimportant 
thing  ? 

3.  What  are  the  real  character  and  end  of  un- 
belief? 

4.  What  relation  did  belief  in  Christ  sustain  to 
belief  in  God,  and  vice  versa  ? 

5.  Can   belief  in  Jesus'  teaching  be  divorced 
from  belief  in  Him  ? 

6.  What  should  be  our  attitude  towards  unbe- 
lievers ? 

XIV 

JESUS  AND  FRIENDSHIP 

1.  Did  Jesus  hate  anybody? 

2.  Did  He  have  friendships  ? 

3.  What   was    the   fundamental    principle    of 
Jesus'  friendships? 

4.  Who  were  His  friends  ? 

5.  Is  friendship  eternal,  or  can  it  die  ? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  267 

6.  Was   Jesus*  friendship   consistent  with  re- 
proof of  His  friend  ? 

7.  Can  any  one  be  a  friend  of  Jesus  ? 

XV 

JESUS  AND  MARRIAGE 

1.  Wherein  does  Jesus'  teaching  as  to  marriage 
differ  from  His  other  social  teaching  ? 

2.  Did  He  teach  the  duty  of  marriage? 

3.  What  was  His  idea  of  the  marriage  union? 

4.  Did  Jesus  allow  divorce  ? 

5.  Is  Christianity  consistent  with  polygamy? 

6.  Is  marriage  for  this  world  only  ? 

XVI 

JESUS  AND  THE  FAMILY 

1.  What  does  Jesus  reveal  of  the  family  life  of 

God? 

2.  What    was    Jesus'     attitude   towards    the 
family  ? 

3.  What  do  we  know  of  His  own  family  life  ? 

4.  What  does  He  set  even  above  the  family  ? 

5.  Study  all  of  Jeaus'  teaching  about  love  in 
the  light  of  family  duty. 

XVII 

JESUS  AND  WOMAN 

1.  How  did  Jesus  treat  women  ? 

2.  What  place  does  she  have  in  His  teaching? 

3.  How  did  women  treat  Jesus  ? 

4.  Did  He  assume  their  equality  with  men  ? 

5.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  women  of  the  Gospels 
and  study  their  relations  to  Jesus. 

6.  What  bad  women  appear  in  the  Gospels  ? 
Did  they  know  Jesus  ? 


268  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

7.  Did  Jesus  assume  that  men  and  women  are 
on  an  equality  or  not  ? 

8.  Are  the  Beatitudes  or  Jesus'  other  teachings 
for  either  sex  alone  ? 

XVIII 

JESUS  AND  CHILDREN 

1.  What  do  we  know  of  the  childhood  of 
Jesus  ? 

2.  What  was  His  teaching  about  the  child 
spirit  ? 

3.  What  relations  had  He  with  children  ? 

4.  What  did  He  say  about  children  ? 

5.  How  did  He  use  the  child  idea  and  name 
in  dealing  with  His  disciples  ? 

6.  What  is  the  difference  between  Christianity 
and  the  non-Christian  religions  as  to  the  place: 
and  rights  of  the  child  ? 

XIX 

JESUS  AND  PRIVATE  PROPERTY 

1.  Did  Jesus  believe  that  it  was  wrong  to  own 
anything  ? 

2.  Did  He  condemn  private  property? 

3.  What  did  He  teach  about  private  ownership 
in  His  parables? 

4.  What  were  His  instructions  as  to  the  use  of 
property  ? 

5.  Cite  passages  illustrating  the  New  Testa- 
ment idea  of  stewardship. 

XX 

JESUS  AND  RICHES 

I.  Quote  Jesus'  warnings  against  the  perils  of 
wealth. 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  269 

t.  Did  He  discourage  wealth  ? 

3.  How  did  Jesus  suffer  from  the  love  of 
money  in  others  ? 

4.  Did  He  call  money  wicked  ? 

5.  What  and  where  is  the  prayer  of  Agur? 

XXI 

JESUS  AND  POVERTY 

1.  How  poor  was  Jesus  ? 

2.  What  were  His  relations  to  the  poor  ? 

3.  Did  He  recognize  or  tolerate  class  lines? 

4.  Is  poverty  or  wealth  the  more  dangerous  ? 

5.  What  was  Jesus'  teaching  about  the  place 
of  possessions  in  life  ? 

XXII 

JESUS  AND  GIVING  TO  MAN 

1.  Is  philanthropy  necessary  ? 

2.  What  were  Jesus'  injunctions  about  giving  ? 

3.  What  does  the  Parable  of  the  Good  Sa- 
maritan teach  regarding  giving  to  the  needy? 

4.  What  did  Jesus  say  about  the  oppression  of 
the  poor  ? 

5.  What  discriminations  in  the  practice  of 
giving  and  the  care  of  the  poor  are  evident 
in  Jesus'  teaching  and  in  the  life  of  the  early 
Church? 

XXIII 

JESUS  AND  GIVING  TO  GOD 

1.  What  is  the  bearing  of  Christianity  on 
tithe-giving  ? 

2.  Where  did  Jesus  teach  that  all  we  have  ia 
in  trust  from  God  ? 

3.  How  can  we  give  to  God  ? 


270  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

4.  What  is  the  meaning  of  Jesus'  reference  to 
''Corban"? 

5.  What  is  the  Christian  rule  of  giving? 

XXIV 

JESUS  AND  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  SOCIETY 

1.  Did  Jesus  teach  social  doctrines? 

2.  Was  He  a  social  reformer? 

3.  Was  He  satisfied  with  the  existing  social 
order  ? 

4.  Is  the  social  order  Christian  now  ? 

5.  What  should  we  do  to  change  it  ? 

6.  What  social  duties  did  Jesus  inculcate? 

XXV 

JESUS  AND  WAR 

1.  Does  the  commandment  '*Thou  shalt  not 
kill ' '  forbid  war  ? 

2.  Is  war  always  unjustifiable,  so  that  no  nation 
dare  enter  upon  it  even  in  self-defense? 

3.  Is  it  wrong  to  use  force  to  suppress  wrong? 

4.  Did  Jesus  always  accept  injustice? 

5.  Can   Christian   nations   now  do  what   the 
Christian  Church  as  such  should  not  do  ? 

XXVI 

JESUS  AND  NONRESISTANCE 

1.  When  did  Jesus  quietly  submit  to  evil  and 
wrong  ? 

2.  What  duty  in  this  matter  did  He  teach  His 
disciples  ? 

3.  Did  Jesus  smitten  on  one  cheek,  turn  the 
other  ? 

4.  Did  Jesus  ever  resist  injustice? 

5.  What  was  the  character  of  Jesus'  "legisla- 
tion" in  such  matters? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  27 1 

XXVII 

JESUS  AND  RIGHTS 

1.  Did  Jesus  ever  waive  the  exercise  of  His 
rights  ? 

2.  Did    He   ever   entertain   the   idea   of    au- 
thority ? 

3.  Did  He  refuse  to  waive  any  of  His  rights? 

4.  What  is  the  relation  of  rights  to  sacrifice  ? 

5.  What  is  the  relation  of  rights  to  duty? 

XXVIII 

JESUS  AND  LAW 

1.  How  did  Jesus  declare  His  respect  for  law? 

2.  What  sort  of  law  did  Jesus  promulgate  ? 

3.  Would  Jesus  ever  approve  of  lawsuits? 

4.  What  was  Paul's  doctrine   as  to  litigation 
among  Christians  ? 

5.  Is  a  distinction  to  be  drawn  between  the 
use  of  law  for  self  and  its  use  for  others  ? 

XXIX 

JESUS  AND  CHARACTER 

1.  Do  our  acts  spring  from  character,  or  does 
character  spring  from  acts  ? 

2.  Which  did  Jesus  emphasize  more,  character 
or  conduct  ? 

3.  What  are  the  relations  between  the  inner 
and  the  outer  life  ? 

4.  Cite   instances   of   Jesus'  insight   into   the 
inner  life. 

XXX 

JESUS   AND   DUTY 

I.  Did  Jesus  say  **  I  must "  ? 

3.  Did  He  mean  that  He  felt  bound  by  duty? 


272  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

3.  How  did  Jesus  teach  the  duty  of  duty  ? 

4.  What  is  the  relation  of  duty  and  love  ? 

5.  Is  it  every  man's  duty  to  do  more  than  his 
duty? 

XXXI 

JESUS    AND   LOVE 

1.  What  in   Jesus'  view   is   the   fundamental 
thing  ? 

2.  Describe  the  relation  of  love  between  God 
and  Jesus  ? 

3.  What  relation  of  love  may  exist  between 
God  and  us  ? 

4.  What  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus  about  loving  ? 

5.  Can  love  be  commanded? 

XXXII 

JESUS    AND    WORK 

1.  What  were   the  example  and   teaching  of 
Jesus  about  work  ? 

2.  What   opposite   views   were  taken   of   His 
works  ? 

3.  Ought  men  to  work  irrespective  of  the  ease 
and  payment  of  it  ? 

4.  What  works  are  we  to  do  ? 

5.  What  is  it  to  '< finish"  one's  work?     Can 
we  do  it  ? 

XXXIII 

JESUS    AND    THE    TEACHING   OF   TRUTH 

1.  By    what    different    titles    was    Jesus    ad- 
dressed ? 

2.  What  was  the  character  of  Jesus'  preach- 
ing? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  273 

3.  Study  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  all  the  refer- 
ences to  Jesus'  teaching. 

4.  Where  was  Jesus  accustomed  to  teach  ? 

5.  Cite  instances  of  His  use  of  questions  and 
His  answers  of  questions  from  others. 

6.  What  parables  and  metaphors  did  Jesus  use 
to  support  and  illuminate  His  teaching  ? 


XXXIV 

JESUS   AND   HUMAN    SPEECH 

1.  Describe  some  of  Jesus'  conversations. 
What  were  their  characteristics  ? 

2.  What  did  Jesus  talk  about? 

3.  Did  He  know  the  common  things  of  life,  or 
was  He  lost  in  high  spiritual  things  ? 

4.  When  did  Jesus  decline  to  speak  ?  What 
questions  did  He  decline  to  answer  ? 

5.  What  commands  and  principles  did  Jesus 
give  governing  human  speech  ? 

6.  Find  all  the  New  Testament  warnings  and 
injunctions  regarding  conversation. 

XXXV 

JESUS    AND    DISEASE 

1.  Cite  instances  where  Jesus  healed  sickness 
and  disease. 

2.  Did  He  really  heal  or  did  He  merely  des- 
troy the  imagination  of  disease  in  those  who  had 
no  disease  ? 

3.  Does  faith  in  Christ  involve  a  belief  in  the 
unreality  and  non-existence  of  evil  and  sickness  ? 

4.  Does  faith  in  Christ  require  the  disuse  of 
means  ? 

5.  Did  Jesus  ever  use  means? 


274  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

XXXVI 

JESUS    AND    DEATH 

1.  Did  Jesus  regard  death  as  real  or  illusory? 

2.  Did  Jesus  die?  What  did  He  say  about 
His  death  ? 

3.  What  was  His  attitude  towards  death? 

4.  Did  He  conquer  death  in  others  ?     When  ? 

5.  What  presumption  is  there  in  favor  of 
Jesus'  resurrection,  and  what  evidence  is  there 
for  it? 

6.  When  did  He  speak  of  death  as  sleep? 
What  did  He  mean  ? 

XXXVII 

JESUS   AND   HEAVEN 

1.  Make  a  list  of  Jesus'  references  to  heaven. 

2.  What  is  heaven's  relation  to  God  ? 

3.  What  was  heaven's  relation  to  Jesus? 

4.  What  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  What 
are  its  laws  and  principles  ? 

5.  Relate  all  of  Jesus'  parables  about  the  king- 
dom of  heaven. 

6.  Is  heaven  a  place  ? 

7.  Is  all  our  heaven  here  and  now  ? 

XXXVIII 

JESUS   AND   HELL 

1.  What  different  words  did  Jesus  use  for 
"hell"? 

2.  What  is  Hades? 

3.  What  is  Gehenna  ? 

4.  What  did  Jesus  mean  by  "everlasting"  in 
the  phrases  "everlasting  life,"  "everlasting 
fire"? 

5.  Is  future  reward  or  future  punishment  easier 
to  conceive  ? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  2y S 

XXXIX 

JESUS  AND  VERACITY 

1.  What  did  Jesus  say  about  truth  and  His  re- 
lation to  it  ? 

2.  Which  should  hold  the  first  place,  truth  or 
love  or  mercy  ? 

3.  Can  truth  be  done  or  only  spoken  ? 

4.  What  is  the  influence  of  absolute  veracity 
upon  character  and  life  ? 

5 .  How  does  the  truth  make  men  free  ? 

6.  What  is  worship  in  spirit  and  truth  ? 

XL 

JESUS   AND   FALSEHOOD 

1.  Did  Jesus'  teaching  leave  room  for  a  belief 
in  the  justifiability  of  a  lie  ? 

2.  Is  a  lie  ever  justifiable  ? 

3.  Cite  instances  of  Jesus'  truthfulness  when  it 
was  hard  to  tell  the  truth. 

4.  What  is  a  lie  ? 

5.  What  does  the  book  of   Revelation  teach 
about  liars  ? 

XLI 

JESUS   AND   JUDGMENT 

1.  What  did  Jesus  say  against  our  judging  one 
another  and  about  His  own  judgment  of  men  ? 

2.  What  did  He  say  about  the  necessity  of 
judgment  ? 

3.  What  did  He   mean  by  forbidding  judg- 
ments ? 

4.  What  is  the  right  spirit  for  such  judgments 
as  we  must  form  ? 


276  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

XLII 

JESUS   AND   FAITH 

1.  What  was  Jesus'  estimate  of  the  value  and 
place  of  faith  ? 

2.  What  did  He  mean  by  faith  ? 

3.  What  is  the  relation  of  the  will  to  faith  ? 

4.  What  is  the  relation  of  faith  to  service  ? 

5.  What  is  the  relation  of  faith  to  opinion  ? 

6.  How  sure  may  faith  be  ? 

XLIII 

JESUS    AND   TRUST 

1.  Is  trust  the  consequence  of  faith?  Should 
it  be? 

2.  Was  Jesus  always  calm  and  restful  ? 

3.  Was  He  ever  worried  or  hurried  ? 

4.  What  did  He  teach  regarding  anxiety  and 
care? 

5.  What  are  the  fruits  of  faith  in  life? 

XLIV 

JESUS   AND   SACRIFICE 

1.  What  is  the  meaning  of  "sacrifice"  in  the 
New  Testament  sense  ? 

2.  Describe  in  Jesus'  own  words  the  character 
and  extent  of  His  self-dedication  to  God  and  the 
work  of  God. 

3.  What  did  Jesus  teach  about  sacrifice  in  the 
Old  Testament  sense  ? 

4.  What  is  the  relation  of  self-denial  to  sac- 
rifice ? 

5.  What  does  Jesus  demand  that  we  shall  give 
up? 

6.  What  are  the  results  and  rewards  of  sacri- 
fice? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  277 

XLV 

JESUS    AND    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT 

1.  Was  Jesus  more  than  a  good  man  controlled 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  ? 

2.  What  were  the  relations  of  Jesus  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  ? 

3.  What  was  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  for  and  to 
be  to  believers  ? 

4.  What  are  the  relations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
Jesus  to-day  ? 

5.  What  are  the  relations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
the  work  of  missions  ? 

XLVI 

JESUS   AND   THE   BIBLE 

1.  Did  Jesus  know  the  Old  Testament  ?     Give 
evidence. 

2.  Make  a  list  of  His  direct  quotations  from  it. 

3.  Make  a  list  of  His  allusions  to  it. 

4.  When  did  He  use  it  in  His  own  spiritual 
life? 

5.  Did  He  regard  its  value  as  temporary  or  en- 
during ? 

6.  What  can  be  inferred  from  the  example  of 
Jesus  as  to  our  study  of  the  Bible  ? 

XLVII 

JESUS   AND   THE   PLEASURES    OF   LIFE 

1.  What  are  the  pleasures  of  life  in  our  view? 

2.  What  were  they  in  Jesus'  view  ? 

3.  What  was  His  attitude  towards  social  inter- 
course ? 

4.  What    is    the    relation    of    the   Gospel   to 
asceticism  ? 

5.  Does  the  Gospel  forbid  pleasure  or  suppress 
joy? 


278  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

XLVIII 
JESUS   AND   THE   PURPOSE   OF   LIFE 

1.  What  did  Jesus  seek  to  do  with  His  life? 

2.  What  did  He  deem  the  real  purpose  of  life? 

3.  How  did  He  condemn  selfishness? 

4.  Is  the  purpose  of  life  its  prolongation  to  old 
age? 

5.  What  does  Jesus  offer  men  in  this  matter? 

6.  What   are   the  privileges  of  the  Christian 
life? 

XLIX 

JESUS    AND    THE   CITY 

1.  What  did  Jesus  know  of  city  life? 

2.  What  mention  did  He  make  of  cities  in  His 
teaching  and  instruction  ? 

3.  Was  His  message  a  message  for  individuals, 
or  was  it  a  social  message  ? 

4.  How  did  Jesus  feel  towards  Jerusalem  ? 

5.  Illustrate  the   early  spread  of  Christianity 
among  the  cities. 


JESUS    AND    THE    NATIONS 

1.  What  was  the  spirit  of  the  Jewish  nation 
towards  other  nations  ? 

2.  Was  Jesus  a  narrow  nationalist  in  His  feel- 
ings, or  did  His  thought  embrace  others  than 
Jews  ? 

3.  What  was  Jesus'  attitude,  contrasted  with 
the  attitude  of  the  Jews  towards  the  Samaritans? 

4.  Cite  the  universal  elements  in  Jesus'  teach- 
ing and  the  evidence  of  a  world-interest  and 
purpose. 

5.  Is  Christianity  consistent  with  patriotism  ? 


QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES  279 

LI 

JESUS   AND   MORAL   AND   SOCIAL   IDEALS 

1.  What  was  Jesus'  standard  for  personal  life? 

2.  What  was   the   goal   He   contemplated  for 
society  ? 

3.  Is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  a  place  or  an 
order  ? 

4.  How  is  the   idea  of  perfection  related  to 
humility? 

5.  Outline  the  New  Testament  teaching  about 
human  brotherhood. 

6.  Is  the  gospel  for  the  present  world,  or  a 
preparation  for  the  world  to  come,  or  both  ? 

LII 

JESUS   AND   MORAL   SANCTIONS 

1.  What  place  did  Jesus  assign  to  love  as  a 
motive  in  life  ? 

2.  Is  there  any  place  among  Christian  motives 
for  fear  ? 

3.  What  is  the  highest  motive  ? 

4.  What  are  the  relations  of  duty  doing  and 
love? 

5.  Is  there  any  place  for  authority? 

6.  What  sanctions  does  faith  supply  ? 

LIII 

JESUS    AND    THE    GOSPEL 

1.  What  is  the  gospel? 

2.  Is  it  the  example  of  Jesus  ? 

3.  Is  it  the  teaching  of  Jesus? 

4.  Can  it  be  disassociated  from  Jesus  ? 

5.  Is  the  Christological  conception  of  the  Gospel 
confined  to  the  Gospel  of  John  ? 

6.  Wherein  does  the  power  of  the  Gospel  re- 
side? 


28o  QUESTIONS    FOR    BIBLE    CLASSES 

LIV 

JESUS   AND   THE   SUPERNATURAL 

1.  What    do    we    mean   by    ''natural"    and 
**  supernatural  "  ? 

2.  Is  man  supernatural  ? 

3.  What  did  Jesus  do  that  was  supernatural? 

4.  Was  His  teaching  supernatural  ? 

5.  Was  Jesus  supernatural  ?     In  what  sense? 

6.  Is  there  any  real   difficulty  in  the  way  of 
faith  in  the  supernatural  ? 


Princeton  Theological   Seminary   Libraries 


1    1012  01198  4533 


Date  Due 

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